Tales of the Teen Titans: Exile
by Nitebreaker
Summary: Raven has a problem. A serious one, to her. She thinks she's arrived at a solution to it, but drastic solutions often lead to drastic consequences. Fortunately, she's not alone in this...or is she? Sequel to "The Taking of Terra, One, Two, Three." Rated M for language and content. NOW COMPLETE.
1. Chapter 1

Tales of the Teen Titans: Exile, chapter 1: Temptation

Wednesday at midnight, Titans' Tower: All was quiet, but not still.

In a certain room, Beast Boy and Terra were in bed, whispering excitedly back and forth to each other. A certain long-awaited-for date was fast approaching, and it wasn't uncommon for them to be so excited they couldn't sleep, at a least not until completely exhausted.

"You talked to Kitten about being in the wedding?" asked Terra.

"Yes," he replied. "She agreed instantly. I got the impression she'd been waiting to be asked, even."

"And Angelique's agreed to be the flower girl, so that makes, let's see, on your side, there's Robin and Cyborg, on mine there's Kitten, Starfire, and Raven." Then her face clouded over. "At least, I hope we can count on Raven."

Beast Boy rolled his eyes. "Honey, please…."

"Gar, I know you think I'm overreacting, but those looks she's been giving you, the ones she's been careful not to let you see, have been increasing in frequency. Girls tend to notice these things, especially in other girls. I thought it was just me being jealous, too, at first, but there've just been too many subtle little things going on. Like, did you notice the other day, what happened with the last slice of pizza?"

He shrugged. "She gave it to me. So? She wasn't hungry any more."

"Yeah, but Gar, think: she actually went to the trouble of _handing you the last slice of pizza._ I know it's a small thing, but has she ever done that before? Ever? In her life? For that matter, has she ever given you _anything?_"

He wracked his brain. "No."

She sighed. "I know it seems like an insignificant thing, but in relationships, it's often the little things that point to big things. And what about lately, has she been insulting you the way she normally does? And you slipped her that ghost chili pepper in her sub sandwich last week; did she go all postal on you like usual?"

"N-no." He had to practically drag the word out. "Well, maybe she was just tired or something."

"Gar? Honey? Are your feet wet? Can you see the Pyramids? 'Cause you're in denial, sweetheart, big time, and you know it."

He thought and thought hard. Finally, he shook his head. "I-I still just don't _see_ it. I mean, I've always thought of her as my big sister. One who beats me up all the time, sure, but a big sister nevertheless. I mean, that's what big sisters _do._ Isn't it? And it's pretty clear she's always thought of me as the annoying little brother who desperately needs a good thrashing every now and then."

Terra sighed, her breath warm against his chest. "Gar…Honey…even in cases of real brothers and sisters, sometimes things….happen." There was a certain inflection in her voice that caught his attention.

"What do you mean?"

She hesitated for a long, long moment. Then, "I spent most of my single-digit years in a castle in Markovia. A big, scary castle, with big, scary rooms. Rumored to be haunted, naturally. Back when I was little, like say, five or six, I'd sneak out in the middle of the night, and go down the hall to my brother's room, to Brion's room. I knew _he'd_ protect me from the monsters under the bed. And he would, of course. He's…always been like that.

"And back when we were about that age, we'd even bathe together. Everybody thought it was so cute. Plus, it gave my dad a chance to show off just how well he was treating me, his little 'natural daughter'—just as well as his own son. Good PR for the royal house.

"But along about nine for me, and maybe ten for Brion, we…decided to quit doing that. Voluntarily, on both our parts." Here she hesitated again. "See, being that close, and under those conditions…..he found himself…..responding to me, to my being there, like that, with him. It embarrassed him no end." At Gar's puzzled expression, she continued, "A perfectly natural physiological reaction, sweetheart," and her hand brushed his groin, "One _you've_ had on more than one occasion, mister, but never took full advantage of. In spite of my offers."

"_Oh._ Uh, _I_ see what you mean. Sorry, was a little slow on the uptake there for a moment. But yeah, I can see how that would be, uh….awkward." _Especially if it's your sister. Well, half-sister, but no difference._

"My point is, we were kinda isolated. We didn't really have any other kids around, to model our behavior on. Pretty much all we had was each other. My father was terrified that his enemies would kidnap Brion for political or monetary gain, and, I guess, he simply didn't care enough about me to get me out into any schools or anything. Maybe he was a little afraid I'd be kidnapped, or….but, no, I don't really believe that. Anyway, the upshot was, all we had was each other. If I _hadn't_ been exiled when I was twelve, it's entirely possible...something… might've happened. I mean, there was nobody else for us. Especially since," and here she blushed crimson all over her face, "and here's something I've never told anybody else, especially Brion, as he'd be horrified. I-I kinda found myself, y'know, responding to _him_, in a female sort of way. I mean, we were only kids, but….I…..found myself….wondering…. some things, you know?"

"Like what would happen if-?"

"Yeah. And that relates to this situation. I mean, think about it: Raven never gets out, goes anywhere or does anything. She just stays there in that big empty room of hers, reading or something. The only guys—boys, men, whatever, I mean-she knows are Cyborg, who's in a relationship with Sarah, Robin, who's in a relationship with Star, and you. Who do you think she's closest to, emotionally? Better question: who does she interact with the most of us all?"

"What about Hank? I thought they were an item, sort of."

"Sometimes things don't work out. Especially if there's something holding one of the two people back. Some unfinished business, or unspoken thoughts or unexpressed feelings. Some unrequited love, maybe."

He shook his head. "I just don't see _Raven_, of all people, as carrying a torch for _me_. Anybody else, I could –kinda-see it—vaguely—but….."

She pulled herself up to where she was eye to eye with him, their heads resting on the same pillow. "I know. And I hope I'm wrong. Maybe I am. If so, you get to say 'told ya so' at least a hundred and fifty times. But if there _is_ anything to my suspicions, and as the big day approaches, it'll probably get worse. So, be ready, sweetheart." And she kissed him, not an ordinary peck, but a full, sensual kiss. "I really don't wanna hafta fight Raven for you, but if it comes to that, I will." Then after another sensual kiss, "Now, about that perfectly natural physiological reaction we were just discussing…"

….

Thursday night: In her room, Raven sat, floating in mid-air, legs curled in the lotus position, surrounded by candles. She sat in the middle of a pentagram formed by them. A pentagram of light.

What she was about to do was serious business. But it had to be done. Things had been getting worse for her lately, and she figured this was the only way out.

It had started with her dreams. She'd dream of making love to Garfield Logan, and wake up climaxing, using her pillow, usually soaking it partially with her juices. Then the thoughts began invading her waking life: she'd see Beast Boy and take note of how _kissable_ he looked today. On more than one occasion, she'd caught herself staring at him, completely without intending to. Thankfully, nobody else seemed to've noticed, but still. Sooner or later, if it kept up, they would. And even if they didn't, it was still terribly embarrassing.

And things had gotten worse still. In spite of her relationship with Hank, she found herself thinking of Beast Boy whenever she showered. This usually led to her fondling herself to a kind of partial, temporary satisfaction. She was just glad there were no sound or video pickups in the individual rooms. At least, she hoped there weren't.

But it was becoming a constant distraction. Unlike her two other female friends, Starfire and Terra, Raven was a virgin. This was a condition she used to take a certain amount of pride in, but lately, it had become a source of annoyance.

_Maybe all I need is to simply get laid. Just get plain old-fashioned fucked, and fucked really good. Just do it and get it over with. Get it out of my system. Maybe then, I could be…..sane again. Or at least, what passes for sanity in me._ But she didn't know exactly how to go about doing that, either. Would Hank be willing? But how could she approach him with such a delicate, intimate question? Raven was, with regards to such matters, actually very shy. She just couldn't see herself doing that. Suppose she did broach the subject to him, and he, for whatever reason, wasn't comfortable with it? She hated to admit it, but that would be a major blow to her self-esteem. A huge blow.

So that led to this. Yes, a very serious step, indeed. But she saw no other way.

Almost at once, she could make out a soft, gentle susurration around the outskirts of her mind: _You know you don't have to do this, Raven. There is another way. A way whereby he could be yours, be yours truly, once and for all. Totally and completely yours. And all it would take is, you asking, and being willing to pay a….._

…_..very…_

…_..small…_

…_price…_

"_No!"_ she exclaimed, louder than she'd intended. Then she glanced worriedly at the door, half-afraid somebody passing by outside might've heard her…

…..and half-afraid they hadn't. But there was no indication anybody had. She continued at a whisper,"I will _not_ do that to my friend! _Never!_"

_Do what, Raven?_ Asked the voice-that-was-not-a- voice in her mind, innocently. _After all, you aren't contemplating casting some magic spell on him or anything. Now, I agree that would be low. All that you're considering is a perfectly natural solution to a perfectly natural problem. One that humans have used for thousands, even millions, of years. _

_It would be so easy…..just say yes….and leave the rest to me._ She could almost feel the Entity sliding around her, in an effort to comfort her…..or perhaps compel her.

"And, as I've said before, here's my answer," she said, opening her desk drawer and drawing out the athame she kept there, pressing the sharp tip against the soft flesh on the inside of her left arm. "Just keep trying. Go ahead. Keep tempting me. This athame is very sharp. It won't take much pressure….."

_You don't want to do that._

"No. But better this than….what you want."

_You don't even know what I want._

"I know your _type._ I've dealt with things like you often enough. I know that no good thing could possibly come of it."

_Are you so sure you've got me properly categorized?_

Raven made no audible reply, but just pressed the point of the athame a little deeper. A small drop of blood oozed past the tip.

_Sigh. Very well._ And the intruding presence around the edges of her mind faded.

She sighed in relief, herself, lowering the athame, and putting it back where it belonged. She pressed the heel of her hand up against her forehead, with her normally pretty face twisting into an ugly grimace as she fought back the tears of exhaustion that seemed to come altogether too easily these days. _As if I didn't have enough problems._ No doubt someone like Starfire could be enormously helpful just as moral support, but she couldn't take the risk. After all, because of her, the world, maybe even the entire universe had once been put in serious, immortal danger. Thanks to the support of her friends, she'd been able to overcome the shadow she'd grown up under, but she didn't want to take the chance that they wouldn't understand a second time. After all, how many times could she place who knew how much of reality in jeopardy before they decided she was more trouble than she was worth?

Raven could imagine no worse fate befalling her than to have her friends reject her. They were all she had.

Now. She could resume her preparations in peace. She went over to her desk, took out a slip of paper, and proceeded to write upon it:

_To whom it may concern:_

_My dear friends,_

_I'm writing this letter just in case we never meet again. I hope you won't think less of me for doing what I am about to do. Believe me, I tried. I tried everything I could think of—and a few things I didn't know I could think of until I got desperate—to get around this, but this seems to be something I just have to do. I'm very sorry if this causes anyone any grief; please believe me when I say that was never my intention. Quite the opposite, in fact; what I'm about to do I do to __prevent__ heartache._

_Garfield, Terra: I'm very sorry I won't be there for your wedding. I truly had planned to be, and I'm sure that you, Terra, will be a beautiful bride. I hope you two have a long and happy marriage. Please take care of each other._

_Hank: Dear Hank. I truly do love you, in my own way, but you deserve somebody better than me. Somebody not quite so screwed up. I'm only sorry I won't be around to help pick her out._

_Cyborg: You may not believe this, but I would have liked to've refereed one more game of stankball. It was actually rather fun. In a gross sort of way._

_Robin: Something I never told you: that time we spent crawling up from Trigon's subterranean caverns, with me on your back, and you telling me stories, were among the happiest of my life. They're memories I'll always treasure, as long as I can remember anything at all. In fact, all my memories of all of you all are memories I'll always treasure. Even you, Beast Boy. All those pranks you played on me….maybe I overreacted when it came to getting you back. Maybe. Some of them were actually sort of funny. I would have laughed, if they'd been played on anybody else._

_Starfire: You are literally everything I've ever wanted to be. Take good care of Robin for me, will you?_

_Orb: You're probably aware I'm writing this. Please don't take it the wrong way. I hope we'll still be able to communicate where I'm going, but I doubt it. Please stay with the Titans; they're going to need you._

_Angelique, Kitten: I'm glad I got to know the two of you as friends, rather than enemies. I hope you continue with the Titans; there's going to be an empty slot now. Now, as to my replacement, I'd recommend Zatanna. She's got the power and the experience, and, personality-wise, I think she'll fit in nicely. Plus she doesn't have any of the mental, emotional, and spiritual baggage that I brought to the group._

_Beast Boy….Garfield. I really don't know what to write with regards to you. You've been everything to me: the irritating little brother, the trusted colleague and coworker, the friend. Most of all, the friend. I really want to keep it that way. Forever. That time when we were fighting the Mad Mod, and I had fallen, and you helped me up…..you'll never know how close I came to coming into your arms right then. Only the fact that we were still under battle conditions prevented me from throwing myself upon you right then and there. And that night on the shore, after the incident with Adonis, while we were talking—it took all my self-control to keep from just…leaning against you, and letting things go from there. And after Malchior-but you get the idea. As always, I controlled myself. But I'll always remember all those looks, those kind words, the encouragement you gave me when I couldn't encourage myself…..I'd best stop before I start crying._

_But I want you to know one more thing: one thing I'll always remember as long as I have a sound mind, was the time when you took care of me, protected me, when, due to my own stupidity, I was in no shape to take care of myself. You know the incident I'm talking about. For that, you were and always will be my hero._

_Well, I don't mean to get all maudlin on anyone, so I'll close this letter with this: believe it or not, I do love each and every one of you. If I haven't been able to actually come out and say that, well, just put it down to me and my screwed-up-ness._

_Here I go—_Someone signaled for entrance at her door. Sighing, she crossed the room and opened the door a few inches.

Garfield stood out in the hallway. "Rae? You, uh, you alright in there?"

"Of-of course I am, Garfield. W-why wouldn't I be?"

He shrugged, slightly. "No reason. I just—something just told me I should check up on you, is all. Say. Later on tonight, Terra and I are gonna watch _Pretty Pretty Pegasus in the Land of Dreams_ in our room. Wanna come watch it with us? I know you like that show."

Raven's knees suddenly felt weak. She had to struggle to keep her jaw from hanging open, and she had to hang on to the door jamb to keep from falling. "You-you're inviting _me_ to come watch a movie with the two of you, after hours? In, in your _room_? Gar, I, I couldn't. I mean, that's your alone time together, isn't it? I'd, I'd be intruding….."

"No, you wouldn't, Rae. Seriously. We'd like you to join us. Both of us. C'mon. Whaddaya say?"

The temptation was incredible. It was like a physical thing, like a chain or rubber band wrapped around her midsection, pulling her down the hallway. The previous soft, half-whisper in her mind was as nothing by comparison. She could be with them, sharing a good time together, but, more importantly, she could be with _him_, sharing a good time…..just one more good memory, before…

"I'm sorry, Gar, but I'd really better not. I do have some studying to do. I'm trying to perfect a certain spell, and it's new to me. So….maybe a raincheck?" She anxiously hoped he didn't see the desperate glimmer in her eyes…..

"Sure, Rae. You know you're always welcome. And I _do_ mean always." And with that, he left, going on down the hall towards the room he shared with Terra.

With her door safely closed, Raven leaned back against it, closed her eyes, and breathed a sigh of relief. That had been close. But it would really be better this way. Really, it would be. For everybody.

She went back to her magic circle and studied the lines, standing there in the center of it. Everything seemed to be in order.

She checked her small duffelbag. She planned on traveling light, but still, she'd need a few things. Let's see….she had all the supplies on her checklist. Of course, it was always possible that something unexpected would show up, and she'd need something she hadn't packed, but there was no helping that. She'd just have to improvise.

The spell she was working on would transport her to an alternate Earth. It was designed to seek out Earthlike worlds and realities where she could function; she didn't have to worry about landing on some Jovian gas giant, where the air would be toxic to her, and the gravity crushing. No, this portal she was about to open would lead to an Earthlike world. Just a different Earthlike world, sideways in time.

True, returning might be a problem, but that wasn't the main issue with her right then. If she never returned…well, maybe her friends would be better off.

Thus thinking, she made the required gestures, spoke the words,…..and stepped through the blackly glowing circle that appeared in mid-air before her.

_To be continued…_

_Please read and review!_


	2. Chapter 2: A Stranger

Tales of the Teen Titans: Exile, chapter 2: A Stranger….

_I don't own the Teen Titans._

Her first impression was one of dazzling sunlight. It had been nighttime on the Earth she'd left; here, it looked to be noon or close to it.

Her second impression was one of a peculiar quiet. In the city, there was always some background noise, cars running through the streets, the honking of horns, a sort of steady background hum or something that she'd always taken for granted. Here, silence seemed to reign. But then, it seemed she'd landed in the middle of the countryside. She'd evidently landed near some farm fields.

A soft _whooshing_ overhead made her look up, but whatever had produced that sound was long gone. She looked back at the fields. There were several people there, picking the fruit, whatever it was, by hand, and putting it in bushel baskets at their feet.

No machinery? In her world, machines did the picking. Maybe they hadn't been invented here, and this led to the whole family, everyone who could, to be out picking the results of their labor by hand. How would this affect them socially and individually?

She was on a road. A curiously smooth road, seemingly made of precisely but strangely cut marble slabs. She looked closely. This was no North American road, at least, none she was familiar with; it certainly wasn't made of asphalt. Could it be an old Roman road? But it looked new…..she bent down to inspect it. Whatever it was, it didn't seem to be marble. She started walking in the general direction of what she assumed to be west.

The first person she met was a human being in what in her world would be considered a "power suit," walking along the road from the direction she was headed towards. He was talking on something she surmised to be a cell phone, or something that seemed to serve the same function as one. "Your plan is sound, but it still needs some work. I'll have to—hang on a minute…." He lowered the phone. "Nastur!" One of the workers, and older man, looked up, wiping the sweat from his brow. "How goes the crop yields so far?"

"Four hundred forty-two bushels so far, _frere_. I'm looking for a max of maybe seven hundred or better."

"Excellent, excellent. The Masters will be pleased. And so will we, come winter." As he drew closer, Raven saw he wasn't really wearing a standard three piece business suit at all, but some sort of one-piece arrangement designed to look like an Earth-style suit. The shirt, tie, and jacket were all of one piece. And she noticed that the workers in the field also wore one-piece jumpsuits, but just less flamboyantly colored. The official (for so she guessed him to be), turned away from the field workers and once again spoke into his cell phone.

Or started to. He noticed her before he could say anything, stopped and stared. Raven stopped, self-consciously. She hoped her outfit—her standard suit and cloak- didn't mark her as an outsider; there wasn't much she could do about her light-grey skin color. She decided her best bet was just to brazen it out. "Excuse me, _frère,_" she said, using the form of address she'd heard the farmer use, hoping it didn't involve a familiarity she had no right to use, "but can you tell me the directions to the nearest, ah, town or city?"

He stared a moment longer, just long enough to make her nervous. Had she already been found out? But then he said, "Of course, _mere._" He turned back the way he'd just come from and pointed down the same road they were both standing on. "The nearest city is ten miles that way. Jump City. You just follow the road, and you can't miss it."

"Thank you so very much." And she began walking. Ten miles to Jump City? Hm. She looked up and down the roadway; there didn't seem to be any sign of vehicular traffic. But surely, if Jump City were the major concentration of commerce in this world that it was in hers, there should be some cars or something on the highway this close…..that is, assuming they even _had_ cars in this timeline. That was a thought: the workers back there didn't seem to know anything about farming machinery, and even the _frère_, although obviously a person of importance, was on foot. Maybe there simply were no cars or personal vehicles. She started walking.

But _something_ had _whooshed_ over her head earlier. So maybe air traffic, but not ground traffic? But that made no sense. Or did it?

Raven had brought some of what she hoped would be something that might serve as a medium of exchange with her: she'd managed to acquire some gold, silver, and some copper. She'd toyed with the notion of bringing a pearl necklace Hank had given her, but just couldn't bring herself to part with it, due to its sentimental value alone. Nobody else had ever bought her anything of real value. For that reason alone, it assumed a value completely out of proportion to its monetary worth.

Thinking about that brought a pang to her heart. Would she ever see Hank again? Or any of them? For that matter, would they even want to see her anymore? They would probably view this escapade as some sort of running away from them, and be hurt by it. She could just hear them: "But, Raven, you should've come to us. We're your friends, after all." But what could she have said? "Garfield, I think I'm falling in love with you"? Yeah, _that'd_ go over _real_ well. Especially with Terra.

If only she could've made them understand. But there just hadn't been time, and the temptations were becoming too strong. For all her strength of will, she did have her limitations.

And such limitations shamed her. After all, what was she really wanting, anyway? Garfield, to have him as her own lover? She felt like she ought to be above such things. The fact that she wasn't was a source of private embarrassment to her.

Besides. Didn't she regard Beast Boy more like a little brother than anything? An annoying little brother she occasionally had to put in his place. Such thoughts as she'd been having…..such thoughts felt almost like incest to her. Unclean, somehow.

And yet…..and yet, deliciously, wickedly, oh so sweet.

For fifteen years, Raven had been raised in a kind of emotional isolation by the monks of Azerath. Dealing with her own burgeoning sexuality…..was a new and completely unfamiliar experience for her. One she didn't really know what to do with. Her mother, Arella, while supportive enough, hadn't actually prepared her for anything like this. Perhaps that was to be expected, given her own, ah, _less than pleasant_ experience as the bride of Trigon. All that left Raven in what were, to her, totally uncharted waters.

Not for the first time, she wondered what would have happened if she'd taken the Entity up on its offer. She knew how demons tended to fulfill such bargains: probably, if she had caved under the temptation, something would've "happened" to Terra, an "accident," of course, a "regrettably" fatal one, "naturally". Leaving her to "comfort" a grief-stricken Garfield Logan. Without any competition.

_How little you know of me, Raven,_ came a soft whisper into her mind; she stopped, dead still, her eyes widening. Could-could the Entity have followed her _here?_

_Well, of course I could, Raven. I am, after all, an extrauniversal being. But you needn't be alarmed. I won't bother you. I'll just be here….in case you need me._

_I've nothing to offer you here._

_No. But I've much to offer you._ And with that puzzling and somewhat disturbing statement, the presence in her mind faded.

She waited a moment, but "heard" nothing more. Well, maybe that was all. She shouldered her duffel bag and started down the road. After all, ten miles (and they used miles here? This world must be very like her own) was a long way to walk.

Or she could fly. Cautiously, she checked around behind her, but she'd already left the people she'd met behind. So she concentrated…

…..and nothing happened. With a growing sense of unease, she tried again. Again, nothing. She couldn't fly.

She tried a simple spell, one any baby should be able to cast. Nothing. A more complex one. Still nothing. She apparently had no powers here.

She sighed. Well, so much for ever being able to get _back._ The way back was by magic, and, evidently, her magic, at least, didn't work here. She was stranded. Well, she'd understood the risks before she came. Still better this way than….the other.

However, either the man she'd spoken to had exaggerated the closeness of the city, or she wasn't as fast a walker as she thought, because darkness fell with her still a good ways out from the city. She could see the lights of it glowing, casting its radiance into the cloudless sky above. She stopped, exhausted, and stepped off into the nearby woods to make a nest for herself for the night.

Reaching into her duffel bag, she pulled out some of the supplies she brought. A ration of cheese and crackers sufficed for her evening meal. Then, unfolding a mylar blanket from the bag, she wrapped it around herself, and, finding a secluded spot out of sight of the roadway, lay down and tried to get some sleep.

As she lay there, trying to still her thoughts, she couldn't help but imagine what might be going on back at the Tower, on what she still thought of as her world. It would, she guessed, be morning there. Cyborg would be frying up sausage, bacon, ham, and anything else meaty he could find, partly because he was a meat-a-holic, but also in order to annoy Beast Boy. Who, come to think of it, hadn't been as easy a tease as he used to be. Maybe it was the fact that he was, after all, getting married soon….maybe that sort of thing tended to cause someone to mature beyond the point of being so easy to taunt.

And Beast Boy….he and Terra would be there, of course. He'd changed his eating habits somewhat, lately, and it was no mystery to her why: he and Terra were planning on starting a family, and he wanted her to have proper nutrition. So he'd felt the need to adapt to eating dairy products, like he'd told her, some time before. Still no meat, but he could make a mean vegetarian omelet: chili peppers, bell peppers, black and green olives, sliced jalapeno peppers, mushrooms, onions, some tofu, a dash of garlic, some seasoned salt and ground black pepper, some cheeses….her mouth started watering at the thought of a culinary treat she'd never again be able to savor. He was on the other side of time, and she'd never see him again.

The thought set her to crying, silently, and she cried herself to sleep.

…..

She awoke wracked with pain. Evidently, sleeping on the hard ground would take some getting used to. Wincing, she climbed to her feet, a bit unsteady, feeling older than her years. She'd been unable to squeeze anything like a sleeping bag or collapsible mattress into her small duffel bag, and so had to make do with a more-or-less Raven-shaped spot on the ground. Not a very pleasant experience.

The city couldn't be much further; she'd seen the lights of it last night. And so, shouldering her bag (and privately kicking herself for not bringing a collapsible walking staff—but how could she have known her powers wouldn't work here?), she started walking.

Soon, she reached the outskirts of the city. From her vantage point atop a small hill, she stopped and surveyed the area, noting the differences, and trying to decide on her next move.

The city itself didn't seem all that different from the one she knew. She could make out some landmarks, parks and roadways that didn't differ that much from what she knew. Her stomach rumbled, and she wondered if they had pizza parlors here. Also, she'd have to see about money, or whatever these people might use in place of it; surely, some of what she'd brought would be considered valuable. She'd never before encountered a human world that _didn't _consider gold and silver to be valuable.

Strange; the city seemed _mostly_ unchanged. But rising from the very center of it was an immense tower, seemingly composed of some sort of green crystal or glass. Whatever it was, it must be made of an extremely strong building material; it was easily taller than any skyscraper she could remember seeing in her version of the city, or, for that matter, anywhere on her world. And, now that she noticed, there were what appeared to be objects flying around it. She was still too far away to make out what they were…..

Now one went _whooshing_ over her head again, and, this time, she caught a glimpse of it: some sort of boxcar-sized rectangular box made of some kind of brownish-red material that didn't really look like metal, or, at least, no metal she was familiar with. It was following a curved trajectory, angling into the city proper, heading for that tower she'd noticed earlier. She couldn't make out any windows or doors on it; some sort of unmanned cargo transport, maybe?

She continued on into the city. People passed her by on the streets, all of them wearing the same loose-fitting coverall-type garments she'd seen the farm workers wearing. At least, nobody seemed to notice her as being different.

Or so she hoped.

There; right over there was the corner where, in her world, was the pizza parlor they used to gather at. And, miracle of miracles, that same pizza parlor existed here, in this reality. Eagerly, she crossed the street (noting all the while that she hadn't seen a single passenger vehicle since she arrived….and still didn't. Did everybody walk here?) and entered the parlor.

It was all comfortingly familiar. They even had the old-fashioned pinball machines to one side, with a group of young people clustered around them, laughing at one of their number, who, evidently, had just dropped his ball. She approached the counter. "Yes, _mere_?" asked the clerk. Behind him was an array of machinery she didn't find familiar.

Hm. _Mere_ must be a form of address for females here. She hoped it was a respectful one, but if it wasn't, there wasn't much she could do about it. Anyway, she had bigger worries. "Yes. How much for a medium vegetarian pizza, please?"

The clerk looked puzzled. "Er, 'how much'?"

"Yes. How much does it cost?"

"Cost, _mere_?"

"Yes," she said, growing a little irritated, "How much do you charge?" He still looked puzzled. "How much money does it cost to purchase a medium vegetarian pizza here?"

At once his face cleared up. "_Oh._ _Now_ I understand. You're referring to the old-fashioned unit of exchange, aren't you? You must've just come in from one of the boats. We don't use that anymore,_ mere_. There's no 'charge' for the pizza; simply tell me what you want, and I'll whip it up for you."

Oh. Well. That was actually kind of a break, all things considered. "Uhm, everything?"

"Certainly, _mere._ It won't be but a moment." And he turned to the complex wall of machinery behind him, punching in buttons with practiced ease.

Raven sat gingerly at one of the empty tables, acutely aware of her ignorance of how things worked here. They didn't use money, at least not here; she wondered if that held true for all goods and services in other locations.. She hoped so; it would simplify things enormously.

She wondered about accommodations. Maybe they, too, were free of charge. That would be a huge break. And what were these "boats" the clerk had spoken of? Starships, maybe? Evidently, people who just came in off of one of them weren't expected to know everything about this society; perhaps she could use that to her advantage.

So what would she do, with the rest of her life? Even assuming that places to live were free here, she couldn't see herself as just….existing here. Coming in every evening for a pizza, then going back to her….apartment?...or whatever living arrangements she could make. And yet, her skills as a crimefighter depended largely (though not totally) on her magic….and her magic seemed to've gone the way of the dinosaur.

There was a time in Raven's life when she had regarded her magic as a curse, and would've welcomed being free of it. Now that she actually was, however…..she found herself missing it. _Typical,_ she thought, _That's definitely you, Raven. Never satisfied._

The clerk brought her pizza, steaming hot and delicious-smelling. Raven's mouth began to water. Even though the pizza was large—it seemed to cover half the table (and this was a _medium?_ What was a _large?_)—she had little doubt she'd be able to eat, if not all, at least most of it. "Could I get a bottle of water, please?"

"Certainly, _mere._" Off he went, to return with a bottle of ice-cold water, condensation running down its side. He put it on the table in front of her.

Hm. Raven picked the bottle up and looked at it. The characters were not in English. In fact, though Raven was familiar with many languages, she couldn't place these. They resembled Egyptian hieroglyphs more than anything else. That, or Chinese ideograms.

Well, she couldn't read the local language. (At least, not yet.) She hoped that wouldn't prove to be too much of a handicap.

She dug into the pizza. It tasted just like the pizzas on her home world, that is to say, delicious. Still, she couldn't shake the faint notion that there was _something_ she was missing. She'd never heard of any human society that just gave stuff away, with no charge for anything. Somewhere, somehow, there was a cost. She just hadn't encountered it yet. She only hoped it wouldn't be something she couldn't handle.

The clerk seemed like her best bet for information. She finished up, savoring her water, which, just like on her own world, tasted great. She'd been prepared for things to taste a little different here—after all, different world, different chemical makeup, perhaps—but nothing seemed changed. Good. Perhaps she wouldn't need the small supply of over-the-counter remedies she'd brought.

"Excuse me," she asked him as she started to go, "but I am new here. Would you happen to know about living quarters around here?"

"Certainly, _mere._" He came from around the desk and walked with her to the front door. "You just go down this street, take the first left, and there's a nice apartment complex not more than a mile down that way. You can see it from the intersection."

"Any areas I should avoid?"

Again that blank look. "Avoid?"

"Any dangerous parts of town?"

"Uhm," he scratched his head, "I'm not altogether sure what you're asking, but I wouldn't go into the Masters' hall right now, as they're in conference. But that's not _dangerous_, as such; the Warriors would probably just turn you away."

"The Masters' hall…..that's that large crystalline building?"

He gave her a look. "You _have_ been away a while. Yes, that's it. If you have some business there, I'd wait a while. Towards evening they'll deconvene and you can get in. The warriors at the gate will guide you. If they guide you away, well, that'll tell you that the Masters haven't decovened yet. Say. You don't have an implant yet, do you?"

"Er, no…."

"You've gotta get one. It makes communicating with the Masters _so_ much easier." He grabbed a nearby piece of paper and scribbled something on it in that strange language Raven couldn't read. "Here. Just go here and tell them what you want. Oh, and, uh, right: you being fresh off a boat, something I should mention: all that we've been talking about is, what's the term? Free? Yes, free. Means without cost, right? Right. I remember reading in history books about people in the past, who always worried about something called _munny_ and whether or not they had enough. Well, if you're thinking these things cost, don't worry. Our society has evolved beyond the need for such things since you've been gone. That was one of the first things the Lords did away with, when they took over."

The Lords? And what was that about warriors?

She walked down the street towards the intersection. Turned left at the first turn she came to. There; she could see, in the distance, what looked like a stacked row of neat apartments. Not that far.

As she walked, she couldn't help but compare this world to her own. It was remarkably clean. There wasn't even so much as any litter; the sidewalks looked clean enough to eat off of.

A group of teenagers came rushing past her, riding skateboards, skillfully avoiding her. Raven smiled. So. Not _everything_ had changed. But, while she saw many pedestrians, she didn't see anything in the way of any sort of personal or public transportation.

Just before she got to the apartment complex, however, a vehicle came up over the hill, actually startling her. She'd almost come to the conclusion that everybody just walked here. But the vehicle—some sort of ground-effect car or something similar—pulled up over the hill, and rushed past her. She stopped and followed it with her eyes. It wasn't the usual ground-effect type, rather it seemed to be suspended completely off the roadway, with no ground-hugging skirt or anything. There was a good two feet of clearance between the bottom of the car and the ground, yet she couldn't see any mechanism that might be responsible for holding it up. Maybe a maglev sort of car? That might account for the futuristic-looking roadways…

Shrugging, she entered what was obviously the office of the apartment complex. "Yes, _mere_?" asked the middle-aged woman behind the desk, "Can I help you?"

"Yes. I've recently arrived—" It wasn't a lie. "—and I need a place to stay. Do you have any vacancies?"

"But of course. Just give me your name and _taggon_, and I'll get you set up."

Uh oh. "Uhm….taggon?"

"Yes, you know, your—wait. You said you'd just arrived. Are you, by any chance, from one of the boats?"

"Uhm, yes. I'm afraid I don't know what a 'taggon' is….."

"Oh, that's quite alright. It's a form of identification. If you've only recently arrived, you may not have one. They're no trouble to get; just go to the hall of the Masters as soon as you can, and they'll get you set up. But we can get you a place here without one for now. Just get it to me when you get it, and I'll put it on file for you." The woman pulled up a screen on her computer, tapped the keys, waited a moment, then said, "Now. What's the name?"

"Raven." She saw no reason not to use her real name.

"Raven. Huh. That's….an unusual name. A nice one, though." She looked at Raven over the tops of her glasses. "Somehow it seems to fit you. Here." The woman tapped few keys, moved the mouse, tapped some more. "Do you need any special arrangements?" Here she stopped again and peered at Raven . "You don't look to be disabled or anything, but…."

"Oh, no. Just anything. And thank you for helping me." Raven looked down, shyly. "I appreciate you helping me, what with me being new and not having the proper documentation." She was acutely conscious of being, essentially, a guest here.

"Oh, bosh. I'm glad to be able to help. Well, here you go, Raven." And she handed the former sorceress a small hard plastic card, again with those unreadable characters on it.

Raven had to control herself to keep from breaking out in a cold sweat. How was she going to find her room, when she couldn't even read the writing?

And she no sooner thought that but that the characters swam and became…..understandable to her. They remained the same strange-looking ideograms, but all of a sudden, they made sense. Of course. Aloud, she said, "Ah, thank you. Suite 141b? Uhm, how do I get there?"

"Right down this hallway. Take the lift at the end of it."

Once in the elevator, she directed her thoughts to the Entity. _Did you do that?_

_Of course I did, Raven. It was a small thing, after all, more on the level of a parlor trick. But I saw you struggling and thought it might help you, so…._

_It was a major thing to me. Thank you._ She was acutely conscious of her own vulnerable state of mind; there was nothing to be gained by becoming overly friendly with the thing, of letting it become a "best friend" sort of arrangement.

_You're quite welcome. Well, get settled in, and, perhaps, if you wish, we can talk later._

_Per-perhaps we will._ Her connection with the Entity was about the only thing she had left of her old life. Had she, perchance, misjudged the creature? Been too hasty in her evaluation of it? But, no, surely not…..

_Sweet Raven. You were both right and wrong about me. But that's alright; there's still a little time._

_But I've nothing to offer you here._

_And can you not conceive of a relationship based as much or more upon what I can do for you, rather than what you can do for me? Is it so far beyond the boundaries of your imagination to conceive of an entity to whom __you__ actually __matter?__ Poor Raven. You've been so harshly used. So terribly, terribly mistreated. Someday, perhaps, someday soon it will be my great pleasure to take those creatures, such as your father, who've so warped you, and pay them back for all the misery they've caused you. Yes. Pay them back, in full. I can be quite cruel when it comes to avenging those so cruelly used._

_My father is no more._

_That falls into the category of "that's what you think." As long as evil exists, so will Trigon. But just bear with me, Raven, and perhaps I'll give him to you, to do with as you see fit. Malchior, too. Would you like that?_

_Yes! Oh, yes!_ She could almost feel another set of eyes trying to open on her forehead.

_Well, we'll see how things go, alright? If such a thing would hurt you, warp you further, I won't do it. For now, just get settled in and rest. You're exhausted._

Suite 141b proved to be a very nice arrangement of living room, full bathroom, kitchenette, and bedroom. Everything was spotless. The bedroom drew her attention first.

The bed was a queen-sized one, with green bedspreads over two thick comforters. She turned the covers down, and began to get undressed, preparing for bed.

She didn't quite make it.

…..

She awoke early next morning, lying crosswise across the bed, still mostly clothed. Evidently, she had passed out in the process of preparing for bed.

She turned over, stretched, and yawned. It felt _so good_ to be in a real bed! She still had some aches and pains from sleeping in the woods, but not as badly as yesterday.

Hm. Come to think of it, how did these people measure time, anyway? It looked to be just now sunrise; she must've slept like a log, in spite of still being almost fully clothed.

There was no one else here, and she had already tested the lock on the door. She stripped off her clothes and walked naked into the bathroom. Much like a high-class hotel, there were some "complementary" items: soap, shampoo, lotion, towels. She went over to the shower, which didn't seem all that much different from the showers she knew….and then she noticed there were no controls. There wasn't even a single knob or lever; just what looked like a large button or plate on the wall where the shower nozzle was, below it.

How to work this? She was wondering that, when, purely by accident, she got into the shower—and the water started.

_Good thing I was already undressed,_ she thought, even as she jumped slightly in surprise. Apparently, the shower started automatically when you got into the stall. It was even the exact right temperature—just a little below too hot to stand. Just right, for her. _But how does one adjust the temperature? Or does one?_

While she let the hot water have its way with her, soothing her aches and pains, washing away the dirt and grime of the roadway, she thought. She guessed today she'd have to see about getting one of those "taggons" the woman at the desk had spoken of. She hoped it wouldn't require something she didn't have or couldn't brazen her way out of not having. Well, if it did, it did.

This place was like a very nice hotel or luxury resort. If she couldn't get a _taggon_ (whatever that was), she might find herself on the run, maybe sleeping in the woods again. The thought of doing so made her grimace.

And what about this implant the pizza clerk had told her she'd need? Maybe she ought to look into getting one of those. Hopefully, it wouldn't involve any sort of surgery. If it did, well, too bad. No way she was going under the knife unless she absolutely positively had to. Maybe she could get by without it.

Say. That was right. She could now read the piece of paper he'd given her, couldn't she? So maybe she could just check that out, see what it involved.

Again, she thought of the Entity, but refrained from thinking "at" it. She was, after all, buck naked in the shower. Although it was somewhat laughable to think of the Entity as a peeping tom, still, she had sufficient modesty to desire some privacy right about now.

She paused for a moment. This was _exactly_ the time the Entity would probably choose to contact her, if, for no other reason, to show her that her need for privacy meant nothing to it. So she waited, waited for the inevitable soft susurration around the outskirts of her mind to begin…..

Except it didn't. Cautiously, she "felt" around the edges of her mind…..nothing. The Entity was silent.

Well, okay then. Good deal.

She stepped out of the shower, toweling off. Walking into the bedroom where her clothes were, a thought occurred to her: what about laundry here? She hadn't seen any sign of washing machines or anything like that….

Nor did she see anything that might be a room telephone, whereby she could contact the front desk. That was odd. She shrugged. Guess she'd just have to walk back down the hallway and ask in person. There was a large flat-screen television in the living room.

It felt a little odd to be putting the same suit on, but she didn't want to use the other outfit she'd brought until she knew how to go about cleaning them.

It was a different clerk, however. "Excuse me, but I've a question."

"Yes, _mere_?" said the younger woman behind the desk. She wasn't as old as Terra.

"I'm somewhat new here, so please forgive me if I ask ridiculous questions. But how do we clean our clothes here?"

"Oh, that. You simply give them to me. I'll see to their being cleaned, and, if needed, pressed."

"And this service is also….free?"

A strange look. "Of course."

Raven was beginning to wonder if she'd lucked upon some sort of utopian world. Given her background, she had an innate distrust of things that seemed too good to be true. "Well, I'll, uhm, get my clothes to you momentarily. Uhm, where is the other woman who checked me in last night?"

"_Mamere_ wasn't feeling well this morning, so she asked me to fill in."

"Oh. I'm sorry to hear that. I hope she gets to feeling better soon." Judging from the resemblance of the girl to the other woman, _mamere_ must refer to one's mother, or equivalent.

"She will," said the girl, with complete confidence. "Is there anything else I can help you with?"

"That'll be all for now. I hope your _mamere_ gets to feeling better soon. I'll get my clothes down here in a few minutes." She turned and walked back to her room. Once there, she found the remote for what had to be the TV and switched it on. One could learn a lot about a world by its news channels.

Except, curiously enough, they seemed to be _all_ news channels. There didn't appear to be any simple entertainment channels. Curious, she surfed through the channel guide, a guide she could now read.

It was all news. There were some stations that showed Congress in session (or what she assumed to be Congress or its equivalent here), some that showed real-time activity on one of many space stations currently overhead. Hm. Apparently, this world had a thriving space industry. She watched as a ship was prepared, going out to the asteroid belt on a mining mission. She followed the play-by-play monologue as the announcer stated the goal of the ship, its probable arrival time, and probability of success. The ship didn't use anything like a rocket or reaction type drive; rather, at "lift-off", it simply moved away from the docking station, picking up speed with quiet assurance along the way. As with the vehicle she'd seen earlier, there wasn't anything like an obvious source of propulsion: no rocket exhaust, no glow in the opposite direction of travel, just the moving of the vessel along its trajectory. Soon it faded from sight, although the real-time cameras in the control center showed it following its course. This was, apparently, a commonplace event, here in this world. She noted other ships were coming in, radioing for docking instructions. Try as she might, however, she couldn't find any simple entertainment channels. There weren't even any sports channels. Strange.

She gathered up her dirty clothes , changing into her fresh set, and took the old set down to the girl at the desk. It had been just a few minutes. "Here, uh, _mere_. Uhm, how soon will they be ready?"

"It won't take but a few minutes, _mere._ I'll personally see to their washing and drying. Do you need anything dry-cleaned or pressed?"

"I don't believe so. Maybe later." Her normal suits were designed to take quite a bit of punishment; it would take a considerable amount of hard usage to cause them to show any signs of fraying or tearing. "Uh,no bleach, please."

"Certainly, _mere._"

…..

Our universe, two-hundred lightyears galactic east from Earth: the Hunter fleet was at a standstill. Ship captains convened; a consensus was reached. What they sought was not out here. Curious that there was so much _nothing_ out here, thought Talks to God. The systems they'd come through had been, by comparison, teeming with life, but not much intelligent life, it was true. Still, it was life. Out here, however, there was mostly barren rock.

Farseer gave the orders, and the fleet turned ponderously around. It would be a most cautious and thorough re-searching of the systems they'd left; after all, it was entirely possible that their quarry was aware of them.

And it might not appreciate being found.

_To be continued…._

_Please read and review!_


	3. Chapter 3:In A Strange Land

Tales of the Teen Titans: Exile, chapter 3: …In A Strange Land

_I don't own the Teen Titans._

Raven's new home: Raven hated to admit it, but she was bored stiff.

There seemed to be no crime here, even if she still had her full powers. True, she was a master of several forms of martial arts, but was under no illusions as to how good those would serve her against, say, machine guns. And, strangely enough, she hadn't yet seen anyone above the age of fifteen who wasn't working at some job, doing something. There didn't seem to be any homeless, no unemployed…how had these people managed _that_ trick?

But, disquietingly enough, she also realized that she hadn't seen that many _people._ The Jump City she knew was a bustling hub of commerce, the streets crowded. Here, that didn't seem to be the case.

She was really afraid to speculate too heavily on that.

In another part of that same city, within the confines of the great green crystalline tower, a silver and black garbed figure moved through the silent halls. His manner was casual, and only someone who knew him really well would be able to determine that he was actually rather tense.

At a completely nondescript spot in the circular hallway he stopped, checking around him to make sure nobody was in evidence. Then his hands moved rapidly, opening a doorway, that, even to the senses of his own kind, would have been invisible moments before.

Within was large chamber, sparsely provisioned. Its occupant was seated on a massive U-shaped throne near the center. Said occupant wore the rich, black robes and oddly shaped mask that identified him as a Lord. And not just any Lord, but the Osirus himself.

Except…..these particular robes were no longer a rich, luxurious black. Now they were frayed and ragged, and burned in places. They looked like they'd gone through a war.

According to the occupant of those robes, they had.

This was a Lord. But not _his_ Lord, not _his_ Osirus.

The figure on the throne "spoke," using Link. {{_**So. You ran the figures I gave you?**_}}

The warrior kneeling before him sighed. {{**I did. Five times.**}}

{{_**And your findings?**_}}

{{**As you said. This "golden age," as you called it, will only last so long as resources outpace consumption. When this is no longer true….**}}

{{**War.**}} They both chorused. {{_**Every Lord against every other Lord, all contending, jockeying for ever-dwindling resources. And untold millions will pay the price.**_}}

{{**Can **_**nothing**_** be done to avert such a holocaust?**}}

{{_**I am unsure what. Mind you, this collapse will not occur for a very long time. Perhaps there's time to come up with a plan.**_}} The Lord paused. Then, {{_**Have you told the female about me?**_}}

{{**No. I am sure she would regard my keeping you here in secret as an act of high treason.**}}

{{_**Well, a word of advice. I have observed how such similar relationships seemed to go in humans. It stands to reason that such would also apply here. If you keep secrets from her, she will resent that. Deeply.**_}}

The warrior looked up in surprise. {{**You….are aware of our relationship?**}}

{{_**I am. It was evident in your mind, that time we conversed, two human months ago. I locked off the memory, so that your relationship wouldn't be discovered by your Lord. But you need to be more careful. Had you been found out…..**_}}

{{**Do you think I should tell her about you?**}}

{{_**I think that's a decision only you can make. But either way, there will be consequences, both good and bad. You must be ready for them.**_

{{_**Now, as to our plan….**_}}

…..

Raven hated to admit it, but she was coming to the conclusion that she'd made a mistake.

This world—at least, the parts of it she'd seen so far-had everything almost anybody could ask for, and it all seemed to be free for the asking. She'd gone grocery shopping today, and been surprised to notice that there were only a couple of checkers. Most of the check-out lanes were automated, of course. Well, that made a certain amount of sense; even back in her world, such things existed. This world seemed to be somewhat more technologically sophisticated, so that fit. However, checking out at the automated lines required a _taggon_, which, of course she didn't have. So she was routed through one of the manned checkout stations, explained that she had only recently arrived and didn't have a _taggon_, and the clerk simply made a notation of what she'd purchased and handed her a receipt. Simple as that. No charge. All that would normally be fine, except she didn't understand how this economy worked. People seemed to work for no money, and require no money for their services.

She'd been advised, more than once, that she needed to get a _taggon_, which she understood to be some form of identification card or something. Where to get it? The Masters' Hall, of course. But for some reason, she hesitated to go there….she'd heard enough to know that, evidently, the Masters were Osiran Lords. Evidently, this was a world where they'd taken over. There was no police force; warriors found and brought to justice those who broke the law. Human constabulary didn't seem to be needed.

And these were not the bald "beta" warriors such as Omega had led to Jupiter. These warriors—she'd seen a few—had full heads of hair. That would make them Prime warriors. Omega had mentioned something about his "series" being something of an experimental prototype. They seemed standard here.

And, for some curious reason, crime seemed virtually unknown here. She'd read the local equivalent of a newspaper—pretty much a standard newspaper, except it was written in those strange characters that had to be of Osiran origin, as they didn't belong to any language system she knew, and she knew quite a few. But what was she to do with the rest of her life? This might be a nice world to retire to, but Raven was definitely not ready for retirement. She needed something to _do._

May as well ask the desk clerk. Except sitting behind the desk was a boy, barely over fifteen. "Uhm, excuse me, but what happened to the other person? The one who was here yesterday?"

"Oh, my _framere_ wasn't feeling well this morning, and _mamere's_ still sick. So I'm filling in. Is there anything I can do for you?"

So. "Framere." Sister, she guessed. "How are they doing?"

Shrug. "They're pretty sick. Don't know what it could be, as we've all had our vaccinations an' everything. But they're on the mend."

"Well, I hope they get to feeling better soon. Tell me something. How does one go about applying for work here? I'm a new arrival, and I'm not familiar with the process." _Among other things._

"Simple. You just go to the Masters' Hall, and they'll evaluate you, see where your interests and abilities lie. Then, they assign you a job, or, more commonly, a set of jobs that you would be qualified for. You choose one, and the clerical staff then sees to your placement there. Couldn't be simpler."

"Well, then, I guess that's what I'll have to do. Say. Is there something, some sort of disease, going around? I notice a lot of people out sick….."

Another shrug. "There certainly seems to be. I know several of the workers down at Pizza Express seemed to've come down with something. While you're at the Masters' Hall, you might want to have one of the Thinkers give you a full-spectrum vaccine. It can't hurt, and it might keep you from coming down with whatever's going around."

"Thank you, I'll do that. Is there a good time to go to the Masters' Hall? I mean, one time better than another?"

"Not really. You won't see a Lord, anyway, not for something so simple as a _taggon._ Pretty much anytime is as good as any other time. If the Lords are in session, they'll only break that up for some emergency." He grinned suddenly. "Try not to have one. Or, even worse, be one. I've never been before a Lord before, but others who have say it's not a pleasant experience. Sometimes."

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind." And she went back to her room.

Why was she acting like a fugitive, anyway? She'd really done nothing wrong (at least, that she could see), so she should have no reason to fear the local authorities, whoever they were. Yet, for some reason, she did. _You there?_ She thought at the Entity.

_Yes, Raven. I'm here._

_I'm curious. Just precisely what did you want me to do for you, back in that other world?_

_I only wanted you to steal something._

_That's it? That's all you wanted?_

_Yes. I'm doing quite a lot, Raven, but most of it I have to do, myself. Still, occasionally, it helps to work through mortal or mortal-equivalent agents, in order to accomplish certain finite goals._

_Omega spoke of you as a being of evil, intent on devouring the universe._

_Overall, he's right about the devouring part. I do consume, or assimilate, universes. They become part of me._

_How does that differ from being truly evil, like he said?_

_It's a case of not having all the facts. I don't do what I do for mere kicks, Raven. Nor do I conquer for the sheer bloody sake of conquest, like many of the beings you've fought. There's a reason for what I do. A good reason. Also, assimilation is neither death nor destruction. It is simply becoming part of a greater whole. There are those within me—many of them-who've voluntarily requested such, accepted it willingly._

_What is the reason?_

_I'm fighting a war, Raven. A war on a scale you can't even imagine. A war on behalf of every living creature who's ever lived, or who ever will live. The stakes, as you'd say, can't get much higher._

_Who are you fighting?_

_My adversary is immensely powerful, Raven. I'm quite powerful by your standards, mightier than anything in your experience, but all my power is as nothing compared to his. I don't mind admitting it: I'm outgunned. But I'm not as outgunned as I used to be. Things are improving._

_I just don't see how something that basically eats universes can be anything but evil._

_Define evil. I'm not fighting this fight for myself, Raven. Were I the only concern, I'd be perfectly happy to go off into some little corner of creation and just, well, rest, do nothing, chill, whatever words you wish to apply to it. Of course, honesty forces me to admit that this is precisely what I'd be saying if I were what you think I am._

She smiled, slightly, looking up from her newspaper. She'd been reading in bed, and regretting that she'd not brought any of her books here. _You almost had me there._

_I want our relationship to be based on honesty, Raven. If I were just somebody you met on the street, telling you all this, how would you know if I was telling the truth or not? Powers aside, I mean._

_I'd have to go by your actions. Which, by your own admission, are not exactly the best I've ever heard._

She sensed the Entity performing a function very much like a human sigh. _What can I say, Raven? It's war. Bad things happen in war. That's why it's called "war." Yes, I've done some of what you would call "bad things." I can't very well deny that. But I've also done some good things, too, and, I hope, the outcome of this war will ultimately benefit everybody. If I wasn't convinced of that myself, well, I'd just go find that isolated pocket of creation. Build my own little paradise. And stay there. Forever._

_And all you wanted me to do was steal something?_

_It would be more accurate to say that there's something on your world that needs to be destroyed. __I__ don't have any use for it. _

_And just how would you have fulfilled your end of the bargain we never made?_

_Relationships are complex, Raven. It wouldn't have taken much for Terra and Beast Boy to've had a falling-out, so to speak. A lover's quarrel. They break up…..and there you are. It's all about probabilities, Raven. Over which I have some mastery._

_So you wouldn't have harmed Terra?_

_I don't cause harm without good reason, at least not to the innocent, not if there's some other way. Unfortunately, I have had good reason to do so a lot, lately. Whether you believe it or not, that actually pains me, somewhat._

_So you admit you're evil._

_If you want to define it that way, yes. But if I were truly evil, as you understand it, would we be having this conversation?_ To which, she had no reply.

…..

In the Hall of the Masters: the warrior reported into a checkstation. The female warrior at the console looked up and smiled. {{**You're back.**}} Then she noticed his expression, his stance, his body language. {{**What's wrong?**}}

Should he tell her? Tell her of the fugitive Lord he'd secreted away in an undetectable room? The one from another timeline? Instead, he sighed. {{**I've been running some figures.**}}

She rolled her eyes, a gesture she'd learned from the humans. {{**Oh, not that again.**}}

{{**Yes, that again. It can't last. This period when everything is wonderful for everyone….it won't last. Sooner or later, if we continue to expand the way we have, the resources will run out….**}}

{{**And then open war, like you said. But how is that our problem? We serve the Lords. It's their will we do. If they make an error in judgement, they will ultimately be the ones to pay the full price.**}}

He looked at her. {{**And so will we. Not to mention the humans and all the others under our rule.** **The difference being, we—and they—will pay it first.**}}

She crossed her arms, looking at him. {{**This is more of that "right" and "wrong" stuff, isn't it?**}}

{{**Well, of course it is. ****Is**** it right for us to set up a system that will ultimately collapse, leading to much death and misery?**}}

She turned away, studying her own console. {{**You got that out of those old **_**buuks**_** I found. I'm beginning to regret having shared them with you.**}} Even as she thought it, she felt the hurt in his mind, saw the look on his face, and realized she'd caused him pain. {{**I'm…sorry.**}} The "buuks" in question had dated from a time in Osiran history before digital data storage was reliable enough to not require hardcopy backups. Several of them had dealt with Osiran biology. Specifically, mating practices.

Her curiosity intrigued, the female had sought out the only male warrior with whom she felt comfortable discussing such topics, to see if the procedures detailed therein actually worked. Not only had they worked, they proved to be delightfully pleasurable to perform. The books hadn't mentioned that part.

They also hadn't mentioned the emotional can of worms such behavior could produce. The two found themselves _feeling_ differently about each other. Before, they'd been colleagues, coworkers, friends. Now they were…..something more.

And being "something more," they discovered that simply being physically invulnerable didn't mean they couldn't be hurt. They could easily be hurt. By each other.

She came up and put her arms around him. {{**I'm sorry. That didn't come out the way I wanted it to. I don't regret **_**that**_** part one little bit. But these notions you've been getting…I worry about you. They border on treason.**}}

He was silent for a while. Then, {{**Tell me something. If your Lord ordered you to kill me, would you?**}}

She looked up at him sharply, moving away. {{**What a ridiculous notion! My Lord would ****never**** order such a thing! You're a valuable member of our society! Why would you even think such a thing?**}}

He curled a finger under her chin, tilting her head up towards his face. {{**I notice you are expending a lot of effort to not answer my question.**}}

She dropped her gaze. {{**I—I wouldn't **_**want**_** to.**}}

{{**Why would you not want to? That's the way the Lords operate. That's the basis for this society we've constructed: the Lords make us **_**want**_** to do something, and we do it. Isn't that the way it works?**}}

{{**Because….because it wouldn't be…**}}

His mental "voice" was soft. {{**Right?**}} She turned away, was silent. {{**There is a way out. For you, at least.**}} She looked up. {{**Simply turn me in to the Lords. I will accept full responsibility for all that has transpired. Then, you would be in the clear, restored to the Lords' good graces, and you would, once again, be doing what is expected of you. You might even be promoted.**}}

She turned on him angrily. {{**You (untranslatable obscenity)! You know I can't do that!**}} She turned away from him, not wanting to even look at him. Unconsciously, she pressed her knees together; on an atavistic level, she sure didn't want him between her legs right then.

He came up to her and again took her in his arms. Her arms were crossed across her chest and she was stiff and unresponsive. The nerve of him! To actually suggest that she-* {{**I said that only to point out that there's no going back, not for either of us. We've actually **_**made a choice.**_** To use a human phrase, we've "tasted forbidden fruit." We can't go back to being the way we were. The paradise of letting the Lords decide for us is closed to us now. Don't you see that?**}}

She thought about that, there in his arms. She felt her anger dissolving. He was right. There _was_ no going back. Finally, she turned, in his embrace, and once again put her arms around him. {{**But what are we going to do?**}} It was…scary. If they couldn't turn to the Lords for guidance…..

{{**I don't know.**}}

…

_To be continued…._

_Please read and review!_


	4. Chapter 4: Allegiances

Tales of the Teen Titans: Exile, chapter 4: Allegiances.

Raven's apartment: the former sorceress was lying face down on her bed, feet up in the air, reading the newspaper. Strange; she hadn't come across any mention of any human enhanced-power being, not in the paper, not in any phone directory or people search website she'd been able to access online. She'd sought any information on this world's counterparts to her old teammates, but there didn't seem to be any. There was no mention of anyone matching the description of any of the super-powered beings she knew. She found that odd and not a little unsettling.

She'd looked for information on just the _people_, thinking that maybe conditions on this world just didn't lead to the formation of super-powers. But there was no mention of a "Bruce Wayne," "Dick Grayson," "Victor Stone," or "Terra Markov".

And no mention of a Garfield Logan, either. They just didn't seem to exist in this universe.

It was kinda lonely.

_You've traveled a good long ways, Raven,_ said the voice in her mind. _Some things are different here. The people you knew on your old world simply don't exist here._ Raven made no reply, but merely sighed. _I know you're lonely, Raven. I wish I could do something to help. But even my power has its limits. At least,_ it began, somewhat hesitantly, it seemed, to Raven, _at least you still have me._

_Yes,_ she thought savagely at the creature._ You were the one responsible for my….urges, back then. And my decision to come here. With "friends" like that…_

_I was not responsible for your urges, as you call them. That came from you._

_You can't make me believe what I was feeling was normal._

_But it was, Raven. Think. You were trained rigorously to suppress your emotions, weren't you?_

_Y-yes._

_And I'm not reading your mind, but I'll hazard a guess: sexual self-gratification was strongly discouraged, too, wasn't it? _Raven made no reply._ That's what I thought. And then, you begin, somewhat late in adolescence, to discover your own sexuality. Those pent-up passions, hormonal surges, combined with the frustration of the one person to whom you felt closest being denied you, produced the effect you experienced. It was all perfectly normal. Sort of._

_Well, if so, you still sought to take advantage of that. Friends don't act that way._

_Quid pro quo, Raven. I do something for you, you do something for me. We both benefit. How is this "evil", hm? Or even unfriendly? Or are you trying to tell me that you fought crime all those years….for nothing? No pay, whatsoever? Besides. I was always under the impression that friends helped each other. Perhaps I was mistaken?_

"Alright, already!" she exclaimed out loud, there in the empty room. "You're my," and here she swallowed audibly, "friend. Happy?"

_Of course not. Would you be? Raven. I'm not here to force myself upon you, either physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually. I have a bit more pride than that. You don't want me for a friend, fine. That's your choice. I only wanted to point out that what you experienced in that other world was none of my doing. It'll happen here, once you get to feeling a bit more secure._

_No!_

_But of course it will. __You__ haven't changed, have you? And the only thing about your situation that's changed is that you're currently in an unfamiliar place….you don't feel safe here yet. Once you do…._

_I…I can't go through that. Not again._

_Oh come now. It's not as bad as all that. And there are ways around it. I could help, or you could simply go to the Thinkers and explain the problem to them. They'd probably start you on a regimen of hormone therapy. I can't say I'd recommend that, since, remember, Osirans don't have sex and don't understand about it, or its importance to humans. They'd be as likely as not to expunge it from you completely. I don't think you'd want that. Or you could simply wait it out. Give it a few years, and the phase will pass. Until then, I don't think I'd get too far away from a bathroom or some other sort of private area. With a lock on it. And, uh, maybe a certain degree of soundproofing._

She winced, blushing. _And exactly how would you "help"?_

_I saw those quotes. I would simply adjust your body chemistry a little. I've a better idea what constitutes "normal" for humans than the Thinkers do, having been human myself._

_You were human once?_

_I've been __many__ humans. I contain multitudes, Raven._

She buried her face onto the bed she was lying on, face down. _I can't believe I'm lying her discussing something this intimate with—with something like you._

_And who else would you discuss it __with__? Raven, in case you haven't noticed, you aren't a very people-oriented person. You don't even know the names of your hosts, here at this complex, nor the name of the pizza clerk who was so helpful to you earlier. And, you have to admit, I'm a good listener. Besides, you brought it up, not me._

Raven sat up, seething. Of all the nerve! The arrogant, egotistical, annoying, irritating…

_I love you, too, Raven._

She snapped. "Get out! Get out of my head! And get out of my apartment!" She calmed down just a little. "I wanna take a shower."

_Certainlee, mes amis._

….

Our universe: at the very edge of the Milky Way galaxy, something slowed from extragalactic velocity. Had mortal senses been able to see it in flight, and, better still, been sophisticated enough to actually make some sense out of what they were seeing, they would have noticed that it was an artifact composed of a solid crystal sphere.

Within, the electrical potential that comprised its occupant and Master "stood" on the (virtual) flying bridge, watching the stars shift around him. He hadn't wanted to return to Sol III this soon, but orders were orders. There was evidence of Enemy activity there, and High Command wanted him to check it out before it was too late.

He hoped it wasn't already too late.

Even though still very far from his destination, his/his ship's sensors detected the alien probe in orbit around Earth's sun. Hm. Seemed to be of Osiran origin. Well, no real matter there; they weren't his concern. He directed his senses at the world he was headed for.

Earth _seemed_ unchanged. Oh, there were some changes: there were more people now, and, it looked like, some progress had been made in…..

Then he paused, as more data came in. Dismayed, he saw the news feeds originating from the third planet from the sun. The cultural level…..surely it hadn't come to this, already!

But it had. Humanity was on the very cusp of a complete sociological breakdown. Not just another revolution, resulting in the creation of yet another state or governance system, but a complete and total breakdown altogether, a new dark age. He'd seen it happen more than once. This world, humanity, would be reduced to a basically feudal state, with every human's hand against every other human's, all striving simply to survive. It wasn't a question of loss of resources; humans were remarkably resourceful. Rather, it was a lack of cooperation and trust between humans. Such a world would be ripe for the Enemy's pickings.

If there was no Enemy activity here now, there soon would be.

Onward, towards a troubled world, plunged the _Starheart._

…..

Raven's new home: the two warriors were manning their respective stations, when the male's attention was drawn to one of the consoles. {{**Who's that?**}} he asked. The monitor depicted Raven at one of the downstairs deskstations, applying for a _taggon._

{{**A new arrival, off of one of the humans' returning ion-drive multigenerational ships. There's no record of her, but sometimes records on those old ships were less than complete. Why?**}} She saw him frowning.

{{**I could swear I've seen her before, but that's not possible.**}}

{{**Not unless you were in interplanetary space sometime in the last twenty Earth years.**}}

He frowned further, looking at the monitor. Then he adjusted the controls so that they showed more than just the superficial appearance. To a human, it would have looked the same, but warrior vision extended far into either end of the spectrum. {{**Hm. Look at this. See those DNA strands? There's something other than human in her ancestry. Her immediate ancestry.**}}

She cast a concerned look at him {{**You think the humans found something…other…to reproduce with, out there? What?**}}

{{**Don't know. And maybe it doesn't matter; anything so close to human as to successfully breed with one surely can't be too dangerous. She's done nothing wrong, has she? Good. I don't want to cause her problems by alerting the Thinkers to her odd genetic structure; humans have enough queer prejudices as it is. But they may need to know if she needs medical care. She may have special needs.**}}

{{**So inform, don't inform?**}}

{{**I'll go talk with her, see if she's aware of anything odd in her background. She may not be, you know. Then I'll see if it warrants alerting anyone else.**}}

She came over to him, putting her arm around him. {{**So. How do you plan to get rid of the Lords?**}}

For once, he was speechless. {{**I….who….what….**}}

She laughed. He was so cute when he was confused like that. {{**This world's economy is propped up by the Lords' power. They make people **_**want**_** to do their jobs, and do them well. And that's fine….for now. And for us, we're used to it. But what happens when resources begin to run dry? You've told me: war. And worse. Those humans assigned to a given job would be basically….**}} and here she sought a word that didn't exist in the Osiran language, {{_**enslaved**_** to do their jobs. Still for nothing, but they would have no choice but to do them. I can imagine the result would be, for the humans, a complete psychotic break with reality. Mass insanity. Isn't that what you want to not happen?**}}

He deflated visibly. {{**I suppose, as a conspiracist, I leave something to be desired. Well. Now you have no choice. You **_**must**_** tell your Lord of me and my plans.**}}

She leaned her head against him. {{**No. I **_**must**_** do nothing of the sort. I told you once, I am with you on this matter, one hundred percent.**}} She frowned to herself. {{**I don't fully understand that myself, but I have been with you…for some time now.**}} She sighed, leaning against him. {{**My allegiance is to you now, and has been, ever since we first mated. That may be why such practices were banned. But proper warrior behavior or not, that is the case. So. It's you and me against the world.**}} She looked up at him. {{**When do we attack?**}}

….

Our universe: invisible even to the senses of the world's various superbeings, the consciousness that was the manifestation of the Entity drifted above the planet called Earth, thinking. The artifact he'd told Raven about _had_ to be destroyed, and soon, before some enterprising human found a way to utilize it and produce even _more_ hell on Earth. (As if there wasn't already enough!) But who could he get to do the job? Raven would've been so perfect….

Had the Entity been anything like human, it would've uttered a small sound of frustration. So typical. You do so much for these people, and when the crunch came, nobody wanted to get their hands dirty. _Well, perhaps it's my technique. I'm not beyond improvement, after all._ It had been so very, very long since the Entity was human, and so much had happened since then…it was easy to forget some things.

Casting about, it sought out beings with sufficient power to accomplish the deed. There weren't that many. And fewer still whose morals it could work with. It was, after all, trying to arrange a breaking and entering, destruction of property, willful damage, not to mention multiple security violations. And that was just if everything went well. If some human interfered…manslaughter might become the least of the charges added onto its agent's list of offenses. Maybe it should focus on skill? Hm. An interesting possibility….someone highly skilled and/or daring enough….or maybe a couple of someones….

The Entity _really_ didn't want to have to macro-engineer _another_ solution.

Then it noticed something coming in from extragalactic space. A bit concerned, it scanned the object with its senses: sure enough, it was the Adversary, its great Enemy. _Oh no, you don't. Not this time. Not when everything is going—more or less—according to plan._

_This time I'll succeed, and bring paradise to this world of mortals._

…_._

_To be continued….._

_Please read and review!_


	5. Chapter 5: A Familiar Face

Tales of the Teen Titans: Exile, chapter 5: A Familiar Face

Raven's new home: Raven had just left the clerical office, with her brand new _taggon_, which, in appearance, strikingly resembled a simple Earth picture ID, except it had a microchip in it, updateable, with identifying information on it. "Excuse me, _mere,_" said one of the clerks just as she was walking out, "Would you mind waiting a moment? One of the warriors wants to speak with you."

One of the warriors? What could this be about? As far as she knew, she hadn't broken any law….."Certainly, _frère._ Is there someplace I should wait?"

The clerk ushered her into a smallish room replete with a couch designed for humans and a low table, more like a coffee table from Raven's old world than anything else. It was just the right height that it would serve both her sitting down and the warrior in his/her traditional kneeling posture.

The door opened. In walked a _very_ familiar individual. "Omega!" she gasped, before she could restrain herself. The shock of seeing him _here_, of finding someone she actually knew here, was like an electrical jolt. How had he gotten here? He was supposed to be dead…..

And in the next second, she realized her error. This was this world's counterpart to the warrior she knew. He wouldn't recognize the name given him on her old world; all that had taken place in another time, to another person. And that meant…..

…..She couldn't count on him as being a friend. To him, she was just another human, one of many millions on this world. He wouldn't know her.

The warrior who looked like Omega knelt before her, perfectly relaxed. For a moment, he studied her, long enough to make Raven feel a bit nervous. What was he wanting, anyway?

For that matter, how was she supposed to talk to him, anyway? As far as she knew, the warriors could _hear_ just fine, but lacked the vocal apparatus to actually form words. On her world, Omega had requested such a modification from the Orb. The process had been anything but pleasant.

The warrior (_not_ Omega, she reminded herself) kneeling in front of her continued to study her a moment longer. Then he raised his right arm, pointing it towards her. Around his wrist was what at first glance looked to be a thin, silver wristband. However, as she watched, holographic words formed in the air above the device: _Who are you?_

"I'm Raven. See? I'm a recent arrival." She showed him her new _taggon._

_Are you from one of the humans' multigenerational starships?_

"Yes…"

_Why are you not telling me the truth?_

Uh oh. Well, no use hiding in the shadows anymore. She was tired of that, anyway. She'd done nothing wrong….and the Omega she knew was a decent individual, a kind person. She could only hope this one was, as well. "Very well. I _am_ from another world. But not through space. From another timeline."

_I comprehend. And why did you come here? And how?_

"It's complicated…"

_In my dealings with humans, I've found that usually means the individual in question does not wish to discuss something. Keep in mind that I am not here to accuse you of anything. You've done no wrong, as far as I can tell. But I noticed something strange about your genetic makeup. It may pose a concern should you need more than superficial medical care._

Oh. Was that all? "Well, yes. I….suppose there is no reason not to tell you the whole story. It's just….you may find it a little unbelievable."

_I have witnessed many previously unbelievable things. I am ready to hear of another one._

Raven sighed, and began relating the incidents that led up to her coming here, to this world. She told him about herself, her world, his counterpart, the Osiran probe, the Orb, the Thinkers, the warriors he'd led to Jupiter, and his untimely death. She left out the part about his opponent being a Lord, unsure as to how this version would react to such. She also, for reasons she'd never be able to understand later, left out the part about the Entity.

She was about to tell him about Kitten when the door opened again, and a stunningly beautiful female warrior walked in. Raven's words caught in her throat. In just those few seconds, the body language of the couple told her that they were, indeed, a couple. (But…how? Osirans…didn't form couples, as far as she knew. Yet she couldn't deny the evidence of her senses.)

There…..really was no point in telling him about Kitten, she decided.

Instead, she told him about Beast Boy and Terra's upcoming wedding, and how she had been having some difficulty adjusting to that. She saw no reason to be overly specific, only telling him that she'd felt the need to give the couple some space. The female nodded, understandingly.

{{**You see what has happened, don't you?**}}

{{**Not really. What is your perception?**}}

{{**This female desired the one called "Beast Boy." Yet their customs meant that he belonged exclusively to the one called "Terra." So to ease her troubled mind, and to stave off any possibility of conflict, she crossed world lines and came here. It was actually rather considerate of her, really.**}}

He looked at her in amazement. {{**You derived all that from what she's said?**}}

{{**Of course. Perhaps I….understand how she felt. How I might feel in a similar circumstance.**}}

The male turned back to Raven. _Well, that is really all we had to ask you. Do you suppose you will be needing anything that we—the two of us, I mean—can provide? This father of yours, this Trigon…this will not pose a health consideration for you?_

"It never has before. I don't foresee it as causing one now. But there is one thing I want to ask you about, especially now that you know about me: I need something to do, some useful occupation. On my world, I was a crimefighter. Here, even if I had my powers back, that's not an option. I was planning on seeing about being assigned a job….." And here she hesitated, "…in accordance with local customs. Is that a good idea?"

The two warriors looked at each other for a long, long moment. Raven knew they were conversing in Link; she wondered what they were saying.

Finally, the male raised his right arm again. _I do not know if I would do that, were I you. You have some knowledge as to how the Lords operate, do you not?_

"Yes, some. Some sort of empathic power or telepathic ability?"

_It goes a bit beyond simply the transmission of thoughts or feelings. The Lords can make you __want__ to do a thing, and you do it. Were you to come in to be assigned, whatever occupation you selected, the Lords would see to it that you would want to do it. You,_ and here his device paused, while he searched for the right words. _You would have no choice but to do it, from then on, whatever it was. From what you have told us, I do not think you would like that._

Oooh. That put a different spin on things. No, Raven could definitely see how that would be a mistake. She didn't want to have her free will hijacked into doing anything, even if it was a job she enjoyed. But what the warrior said explained a lot. People did their jobs because they wanted to, and did them well and did them for free, also because they wanted to.

But not of their own free will.

"I….I do not think I would want that, at least not quite yet. But I must confess, I'd like something to do. Is there nothing I could, at least, volunteer at?"

Again the two looked at each other for a long, long moment. Then the female raised her right arm. _Tell you what. Come back tomorrow. Ask for the warriors involved in,_ and here she consulted the male, _singularity research, and sociological overview. That's us. We'll find you something to do._

"Thank you, I'll do that. I appreciate your helping me in this matter…."

_We are glad to be able to help. And perhaps you can tell me about this…other warrior, the one you call Omega,_ read the female's wrist reader. She smiled craftily at the one kneeling next to her. _He sounds fascinating._

The male rolled his eyes in a most human manner.

….

Back on Raven's former world: The Orb trembled in its room. Something was about to happen. Something bad.

The Gods were coming. And humanity's days might well be numbered.

….

The next day, Raven walked to the green crystalline tower and asked to see the warriors involved in singularity research and sociological overview. She was immediately ushered into a large circular room with instrumentation all around the walls. The floor was a sheer, almost dazzling white, but the walls, for some reason, were like black glass. She couldn't see any windows.

The male looked up from where he was kneeling at his console and smiled. He pointed his wrist reader at her. _Welcome. Are you ready to begin?_

Raven wondered if she should remove her cloak, finally deciding on doing so. The temperature in the room was warm, but not the overly hot she was expecting. Perhaps they'd adjusted it with her in mind. "I'm ready to do anything I can. What, exactly, do you do here?"

_Here we do research into singularities. Are you familiar with the concept?_

"Of singularities? Somewhat. Are you referring to black holes?"

_Not exactly. These singularities are produced by the combining of two elements, neither one native to the eleven dimensioned space you and I call reality. These particular singularities are uncloaked by an event horizon. As such, they have to be carefully shielded by overlapping force-fields, lest their destructive properties cause the harm they easily could._ He showed her a set of graphs. _These are the safest way of viewing such a singularity. Simply gazing at one with unshielded optics would be unwise. After all, a singularity is a condition where the known laws of physics break down. People who gaze into one too long or too deeply tend to break down, too. Insanity can result. Plus, there are other problems._

"Such as?"

_Let's say you manage, somehow, to defeat the shielding we've put into place around the singularity, and actually look upon it with your naked eyes. Now, let's say further that you see something, something coming out of the singularity. Say, for example, an Earthly dog. You won't, _he "said," hastily, she thought, _but I'm just using an analogy here. So far, so good?_

"Yes." She was a little irritated at his 'dumbing down' of the matter. After all, she _did_ possess an intellect, and a formidable one at that.

_It seems conscious perception plays a large role in determining what actually transpires. If you saw a dog emerging from the singularity, one would emerge. Likewise, if you did not, one would not._

"I see."

_But here's the thing: until you—or someone like you or I, that is, a living, self-aware being—actually __see__ a thing happening, it both happens and does not happen, simultaneously._ His wrist reader even underlined the word for her.

"But how can that be? Either a thing is or it isn't…."

_That is what I meant about perception playing such a large role. Until a thing is perceived, it is not real. So your dog would both emerge and not-emerge, simultaneously. Both realities would cancel each other out, so no change would actually take place, but both realities would be present, waiting for one or the other to be perceived into existence, so to speak._

"I believe I understand." This was pretty deep stuff.

_Good. Because it goes much further than that. What if you gazed upon the singularity and saw something you couldn't identify coming out?_

"What do you mean?"

_Something your eyes and mind could not recognize. Something so different you had no way of telling even yourself what it was?_

Hum. Well, that would be….

_The result would of course be utterly unpredictable. And remember, what we are discussing is not usually a __thing__, as such, as it is a condition of space or physical law. A brand new physical law. One nobody anticipated or had any idea how it works. You see the danger inherent in this, do you not?_

Yeesh. And demons thought _they_ were dangerous. If what she gathered was true, the Osirans were studying something that could alter the physical and possibly the metaphysical properties of the entire universe _by accident._

_Exactly. Now. The graphs you are looking at…_His wrist reader went on writing words on thin air. Raven's attention drifted between the instrumentation in front of her, and his reader. She had to look at his wrist in order to communicate with him, but he was referring to the monitors in front of them, so her eyes kept shifting back and forth…

…..and she found herself gazing at neither the monitors nor the wrist reader, but at his toned abs, barely visible underneath that tight-fitting Osiran uniform….

…_.of course, pi is infinite, but it is not a variable, and the cosine has to remain constant out to at least forty-two digits….._

Such delicious abs….she could just imagine what it would feel like to slide her hand and maybe her tongue up and down them…or, rather, and better still, up and down the skin beneath that taught uniform….

…_.in such cases, changes in e are not uncommon, but most changes are in the first twelve digits. However, if the change is in the first four digits….Raven?_

"Uhm. I'm sorry?" She jerked her attention back to his face.

_Your attention wandered. Are you alright?_

"I'm—I'm fine. Just a little tired." She put her hand to her head. What had she been thinking about just a minute ago?

_Did you sleep well last night?_

That was kind of nice of him. Actually, she hadn't; her dreams were all of her old life back on that other world, and she kept seeing her friends in trouble, with her not there to help. After a few tries, she had simply given up, and resigned herself to a night of late-night news broadcasts. (Say, why _were_ there no entertainment channels, anyway? Now that she actually knew somebody, maybe she could ask.) "Not really. I….I kept having these dreams. About my old world, and the friends I left there."

He drew back from the panel in front of him. _Would you like to talk about it? Or them?_

"I don't want to waste your time, or bore you…."

_You are doing neither. If something is troubling you, I want to help._

Did he absolutely positively _have_ to have such perfectly sculpted biceps?

….

In another part of the green arcology, the female made her way past the Thinkers' enclave. Some echo of excitement in the Link from within drew her attention. She stuck her head in the door. {{**Is something amiss?**}}

The Alpha Thinker looked up from his instrumentation, a sign of respect. She knew this particular Thinker, and respected his intelligence.

And he respected hers. That was uncommon. Thinkers were orders of magnitude more intelligent than most other beings, warriors included; for a Thinker to actually respect the intelligence of another, non-Thinker was a high compliment, indeed. {{**You might say that. There has been a death.**}}

{{**A death? Of whom?**}} She knew it wasn't one of the Osirans; she would have sensed that directly.

{{**One of the humans. But it is the manner of death that has drawn my interest.**}} Here he showed her slides of biological samples taken from the human. Although he didn't need to, for her vision's sake, he magnified them so as to easier point out what he was talking about. {{**See? Here, and here? Those virus chains? **}}

{{**Yes.**}}

{{**Now. Take a look at the viri in the dish.**}} And he directed her attention over to a small plastic dish containing a sample of the virus.

Had the female been human, she would've felt a crawling sensation under her skin. Because the viri in the dish were _moving_, apparently under their own power, crawling all over each other, seeking….what?

Another host?

Viri don't _act_ like that.

A virus, she knew, is nothing more than a protein chain. It isn't even a whole strand of DNA. Upon contact with a receptive cell wall, it lets itself in, plugs itself into the cell's DNA, and hijacks the cell's reproductive function, forcing the cell to make copies of the virus. The worst viruses, the most deadly, forced the cell to produce more and more and more copies of the original virus, until the cell literally burst from within, like chickens reproducing to the point of exploding the walls of the henhouse from the inside.

But viruses didn't actively _seek out_ a host; they _couldn't._ They were mere protein chains, inert in themselves, as incapable of seeking out a host as gum on a sidewalk was of seeking out a shoe.

These were definitely behaving in an unauthorized manner. {{**Where did these come from?**}}

{{**We don't know yet.**}} She could sense his frustration. There are three words all Thinkers, everywhere, hated: _I_, and _don't_, and _know._ {{**But we intend to find out.**}}

_To be continued…_

_Please read and review!_


	6. Chapter 6: Good? Evil?

Tales of the Teen Titans: Exile, chapter 6: Good? Evil?

Back at Raven's apartment. There had been nobody at the desk, so Raven simply let herself in, using her brand new _taggon._ She looked around for one of the clerks, wanting to give it to them to file, as they had said, back when she first came here, but there was nobody in evidence. She hoped they weren't all sick.

Once inside, she doffed her cloak and lay back on the bed, kicking her shoes off. It had actually been a good day, overall. She and the warrior who looked like Omega had had a good talk; she had confessed to him that she did, yes, miss her friends and her old world. He had understood, or seemed to, judging from his comments. To Osirans, one world was pretty much like another, but he could understand if he were to be (and here, he'd hesitated, just long enough for her to read his true meaning) _separated_ from those he….cared about.

She smiled, eyes closed….and suddenly realized her right hand was gently massaging her left breast, running her thumb over the nipple, right through her suit, back and forth, forth and back…..

"_No!"_ She tore her hand away from herself, sitting up, and, grasping her wrist with her left hand, glared at it, as if it might turn into a snake or something, unless she watched it, closely.

She got up and crossed over to the stasis-box food container. It wasn't a true fridge, exactly; rather, objects placed inside were subject to a time-stasis field. Anything cold would remain cold for all eternity; likewise, anything hot would remain piping hot forever. Provided, of course, they were cold/hot _prior_ to being placed inside. The silvery color to the box vanished as she pulled on the handle.

Within were several bottles of water. She grasped one, just as cold as the day she'd put it in, of course, and opened it. "Here," she said to her right hand, fully aware of the insanity of talking to a body part, "do something useful for a change. And don't tell me you were about to. I don't want to hear about it." The small shock of cold water on the back of her throat was pleasurable…..

_Good evening, Raven. Had a good day today, did you?_

The water choked in her throat, and she sputtered. She coughed, bringing up stinging moisture into her sinuses. "You—you," and here she decided to use a few choice words she'd heard Cyborg mutter at malfunctioning machinery, "you—you blankety-blank," and switched in mid-cuss to a few _even better_ choice words she'd heard Terra use, occasionally. Evidently, bumming around the American southwest all those years had taught her a whole volcanic vocabulary that had made even Cyborg blush. She didn't know what half of the words meant, but it didn't matter; they _sounded_ superb. "You, you blankety-blank of a blankety-blank, son of a blankety blank blank _blank! _Don't you know to knock or something?!"

_You left out the hyphen on that last blankety-blank. But I am an invisible entity, Raven, and thankfully so, at least, at this point in things. But I suppose I could announce myself, somehow, though. What would you recommend? Trumpets? The smell of lilacs in spring? Maybe some sort of visual cue?_

"How about the cue of you never showing up at all?"

_You wound me, Raven,_ it lied, _and after all I've done for you. Well, if you don't want the warning I was about to bring, ok-_

"Wait. What was this about a warning?"

_But you said you don't—_

"Now don't start that. You'll have entirely too much fun with it. What was this warning you mentioned?" She crossed over to the edge of her bed and sat down, nursing her bottle of water.

She could sense the Entity debating with itself whether or not to tease her further. Then, _Well, since you ask me so nicely….you are in danger. Some events are transpiring on this world that directly threaten you. I can't really tell __how__ you're in danger, or from what source, because it hasn't happened yet, but you definitely are in danger._

She frowned. "Well, I guess I appreciate the heads-up, but that's not really very helpful. Am I in danger from the Osirans, the humans, or some other source?"

_That's just it, I can't really tell. The future can be maddeningly vague, because it hasn't actually happened yet. There are literally an infinite number of possible tomorrows, each one slightly or wildly different. But the timeline you're currently riding is looking dangerous for you. More so, I mean, that usual. Just thought you should know._

"Well….." She sat back on her bed, crossing her legs and scowling. "Well, thank you. I guess, I mean. No idea what I should look out for?"

_Something to do with __you__, Raven. That's about as specific as I can be. You're not sick or anything, are you?_

"Me? No. Never been sick, as far as I know. Oh, maybe when I was a baby…but my mother never mentioned it."

_Mind if I scan you?_

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I do mind. I know you're not human, but I don't appreciate anyone peeking beneath my clothes, my skin, or my head. It's a privacy issue. You ought to understand about that sort of thing, if you know as much about humans as you claim to."

The psychic equivalent of a shrug. _Alright. I understand. I could scan you anyway, but I'll respect your wishes._ It changed the subject. _Tell me something, Raven. If you could go back to your old world, would you?_

"Why? Nothing's changed. I'm still…" And here she paused. She'd been doing it again today, looking at the male warrior who looked so much like Omega, and fantasizing. Admiring the firm line of his jaw, his dark eyes, and wondering to herself just what he looked like without that uniform on…

It was happening all over again, just like the Entity had said. She was starting to feel secure here; she actually had friends now, and not just any friends, but friends _in authority_, and was once again experiencing the same or similar urges she'd had back then, in that other world.

And, _damn_ it all to the ninth circle of Trigon's hell, she was _once again_ fixated on _somebody else's man._ What was _wrong_ with her, anyway? Did other young women have this sort of problem? She didn't think so.

She could sense the Entity patiently waiting for her to respond, like somebody on the other side of a closed door, waiting for a reply. "I…I'm still me."

_Are the urges….? Yes, I see they have been. Poor Raven. I was afraid of this._

She put the heel of her hand to her forehead, her face twisting into a grimace of anguish. "I….I don't…..I don't know what to do," she finally said.

There was a pause. Then,_ Raven. Come here._ She sensed the Entity sliding around her, the physical sensation of an embrace. _I know you're not a hugger, but we all need one sometimes._ She found herself leaning against a solid nothingness, the tears flowing freely down her face. _I want you to know you're not alone in this. I know you think I'm some kind of monster, and, in some ways, you're right. We all are what we are. What we've made ourselves to be. But I'm with you in this. I won't leave or forsake you._

"I…I must be out of my mind. You're evil….."

_I'm a person, Raven. Just like you. I can do evil things, or I can do good things, but those terms don't totally define me, any more than they define you. You can do evil or you can do good, but neither of those concepts define you as a whole, or tell what you'll do tomorrow. It's all about choices, Raven. And I choose to be here, now, doing this._

"But _why?_ What can you possibly get out of it? I'm no good to you here, you've said so yourself. What's in it for you?"

_Now don't __you__ start __that.__ Raven. Think for just a minute. Your friends back on your old world, or your new friends here. Why do you care about them? What can they do for you? Is that the way you look at it?_

She shook her head, her short hair swishing right through the invisible whatever that was holding her. "It—it isn't like that…"

_Well, it isn't like that for me, either. Now. I'm putting you to bed._ An invisible force lifted her up off the bed, even as the covers turned down all by themselves. _I see you didn't get much sleep last night; you will tonight. No dreams._ The covers pulled up over her. _Good night, Raven._ Phantom lips brushed her forehead. _Tomorrow's another day._

…

_To be continued….._

_Please read and review!_


	7. Chapter 7: Emotions

Tales of the Teen Titans: Exile, chapter 7: Emotions

Back at the arcology: the female stared at the slides, and the samples the Thinkers had prepared for her. She didn't need to put them into anything like a microscope; her own vision was sufficient, for now.

She hoped her wisdom was.

…

Raven adjusted quickly to the routine there at the arcology. She _did_ have a formidable intellect, and rapidly assimilated the information produced by the monitors.

The biggest danger lay in actually bringing a singularity into existence. Once one had, the problem was one of stability, but each one had to be "birthed" individually inside such complex and overlapping shielding that it was difficult for the monitors to actually poke through the shields to "see" what was transpiring. She presumed a similar phenomenon would have been fusion research on her old world: the magnetic fields of the tokamaks that guided the superhot plasma had to be so strong in and of themselves that it made the process harder, yet there wasn't any way out of it. Like gripping the soap in the shower; the harder one grasped it, the more it slipped away.

The male was "speaking." _You have to watch out for the tangent, as it can get away from you rapidly. Now, in the event of an emergency…._he paused, looking off.

"Yes?"

_Sorry. My partner is communicating with me._

{{**..**}}

{{**Yes?**}}

{{**I need you to come to the Thinkers' lab right away. It's important.**}}

{{**I am on my way. Shall I bring Raven?**}}

{{**Gods, no. Leave her right where she is. You've activated the security protocols, haven't you? Good. She can't get into too much mischief with those in place.**}} What? What was _that_ all about?

_I'm sorry,_ he "said" to Raven, _I'm being summoned. You'll be okay here for a while, won't you?_

"Oh, yes. By all means. I'll be fine." Off he went.

Down at the Thinkers' lab. {{**What is it?**}}

{{**Look.**}} She showed him the slides, and the petri dish with the viral sample, still crawling away. He gazed in horror at it. {{**The death toll is up to three, now. **_**Pere**_** Frasson, at Pizza Express, and **_**meres**_** Norda and Aida, at the Northwest Apartment complex.**}}

He looked up in shocked realization. {{**That's where…**}}

{{**Exactly. Now. Focus your optics on your girlfriend up there.**}}

{{**My…..? Oh. Oh, my.**}} His attention was drawn to Raven, up in their laboratory, even then bent over the graphs and meters, brushing her hair away from her eyes.

For her bloodstream was alive with the virus. Although they didn't seem to be affecting her, they were all throughout her circulatory system.

{{**She's sick.**}}

{{**Sick, nothing. She's a carrier. The virus came here through her. She's a walking contagion.**}} There was an odd undercurrent to her thoughts in Link that he finally caught.

{{**Wait. What did you mean, 'my girlfriend'?**}}

{{**Don't play innocent with ****me****.**}} She rounded on him and poked him in the chest with a finger; he actually backed up a step, more from her expression than the gesture itself. {{**I've seen the looks she's been giving you, the way she watches you. It's no accident she focused on ****you**** when she first came to our attention. You can't tell me you haven't noticed. You,**}} here she poked him again, forcing him back another step. The Thinkers around them looked up sharply. They couldn't "hear" what was being "said," but they could see the actions and gestures. What ever was going on? {{**you are what the humans call a **_**sucker**_**. A sucker for a pretty face and a sad story. All that nonsense about leaving her own universe to give that other couple some space…hah! A likely story, indeed. Oh, yes. Everybody just crosses dimensional barriers whenever it gets crowded back home. And then she comes here. The universe **_**right next door,**_** where it **_**just so happens**_** that no human has any resistance to the deadly microorganism she's carrying, **_**and,**_** furthermore, she then proceeds to sob-story her way into the good graces of the warrior involved in singularity research. Oh, right. That's all **_**just coincidence**_**, I'm sure.**

{{**It's pretty **_**obvious**_** what's happened,**}} she continued, crossing her arms and turning away. He was staring at her in open-mouthed astonishment. {{**She's the forerunner of an invasion force. She comes here, spreading her plague—and I'll bet that isn't the**_** only **_**thing she'd like to spread, at least where **_**you're**_** concerned-and softens this world up for her people, her forces, to come in and conquer it. She as much as admitted it, a version of it, with this Trigon story. If there's any truth to that, she was supposed to be a gateway, a portal to a human world for this demon overlord. So here she is, spreading her disease, and making what the humans call 'bedroom eyes' at ****you****, thus cementing her leverage here.**}}

He couldn't believe his senses. She'd gone from making very little sense to making no sense whatsoever, all in the space of seconds. {{**Look. Come with me.**}} And he practically dragged her into a small alcove just off the main hallway. {{**Will you **_**listen**_** to yourself? What's gotten into you? This isn't like you.**}} He grasped her by the shoulders; she looked away, refused to meet his gaze. Realization dawned on him. {{**I can't believe it. You're **_**jealous.**_** You're actually **_**jealous.**_}}

{{**I am not!**}}

He saw the larger implications, and was suddenly very afraid. {{**It's just like the old **_**buuks**_** said. You're jealous, and it's clouding your thought processes. Don't you see?**}}

{{**I see who's not getting any tonight….**}}

{{**No, look. Just a few days ago, weren't **_**you**_** the very one who told **_**me**_** about how Raven's coming here was 'considerate'?**}}

No response.

{{**Now, aside from learning about her medical condition, what has **_**actually happened**_** to've changed your opinion of her? What has she **_**actually done?**_}} Again, no response. She was stiff and unresponsive in his arms. He turned her face up to his; she still refused to meet his eyes. {{_**Now you see her as a rival.**_** And all of a sudden she's gone from innocent refugee to invader sinister.**}} Pause. {{**Look. Do you ****really**** think there's anything between Raven and me?**}}

{{**N-no. Oh, ****I**** don't know what's wrong with me.**}} She turned away from him, rubbing her arms, looking at her feet. {{**I-I see the way she watches you, looks at you, and, and this image flashes through my mind, of, of you and **_**her**_**, together, the way we've been together, and I, I feel this, this irrational flood of anger. I ****know**** she hasn't actually done anything—yet-, but I want to just…I want to kill her!**}}

He came up to her, and again took her in his arms. {{**Don't you see what's happening? We're experiencing the very emotions we've catalogued in humans-correction,**}} he Linked, {{**..the very emotions we've catalogued in **_**other **_**humans, we may as well admit it: we're as human as they are, in this respect-we're experiencing them, ourselves. They haven't gone away or atrophied or become something else. They've been here all along, just waiting for the proper stimulus. But here's the thing: **_**We aren't as good at handling them as the humans are.**_** We've no experience.**}} Her eyes widened as the force of his logic penetrated her emotional distortion, and she saw the implications inherent in the situation. {{**And those same emotions can cloud **_**our**_** judgment. Make us think things that aren't so. Make us **_**sure**_** of things that aren't so. And lead us into actions that aren't logical or wise. Actions that, later on, we'd wish we hadn't taken.**}}

It was like a dash of cold water in the face. Or like discovering the bomb you were holding was not only live, but ticking.

{{**But….what do we do? What **_**can**_** we do?**}} This enemy wasn't outside the domain barrier; it was inside. Already.

He held her tightly. {{**The same thing we do in any dangerous situation. Aware of the danger, we proceed with caution.**}}

Upstairs, in the lab, Raven proceeded to monitor the new singularity. She was actually enjoying herself. It really was fascinating, almost like learning a whole new kind or level of magic. What was the old saying? _Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic?_

_Raven._ Raven's head started up; there was a grim tone to the Entity's mental "voice" that she'd never heard before. _You're in danger. Extreme danger. I don't have time to go into it all, and I know talking to me is distracting for you, but if someone should ask you if you have a way back to your world, tell them yes. Or tell them you do anyway. Understood?_ No more playful joking around; the Entity sounded dead serious.

"But I don't."

_Leave that to me. Just get back to that same place you arrived, and I'll open the portal for you. Just do it, okay?_

"But I _shouldn't_ go back! I'll, I'll still have the same, the same-*"

_There's no time to explain! Your two friends are coming, and I can't talk long. But I'm determined to save your life here, no matter what the cost. If need be, I'll crack this world open like a walnut to do so. __Don't __make __me__. Just go, okay?_ Raven was shocked, not really knowing what to say to that. Would the Entity really destroy a whole world? For her? Why? And what was so-*

The male and female entered the room. _Raven,_ read the male's wrist reader, _there seems to be a problem._

…

Thirty minutes later: Raven sat, aghast, at the information she'd just received. She, a carrier of a deadly virus? But, but…..

And she'd indirectly caused the deaths of some people who'd been kind to her: the pizza clerk, and the two women at the apartment complex. They were dead because of her. But how had this happened?

And then she thought…..

Back on her old world, she, like all the others (except for Starfire), had had a flu vaccine. Standard procedure. But something else that came to her: many years before, when she was living in Azerath, she'd cast a spell on herself to ward off disease, medical care there being mostly limited to herbal remedies, some of which were actually quite good.

Raven remembered, from her studies, that there were some universes where magic just didn't work. Or certain kinds of magic didn't work, and others did. She'd assumed this was a world where magic in general just didn't work….what if she'd been wrong?

Had her youthful spell combined with the flu vaccine to produce a _magically enhanced flu virus?_ She'd heard of wilder things. "Well, what can be done? I can't go around spreading this, this disease!"

_The Thinkers are treating those humans who've come down with it with a combination of nanotech disassemblers and radionic adjustment. So far, it seems to be working. People are recovering. Perhaps,_ and here he looked at the female, who was sitting across from them, arms across her chest, _perhaps we can treat you similarly. A massive dose of nanobots, plus the radionic therapy…_

He Linked to the female. {{**Can you get a supply of those nanobots? If so, perhaps we can arrange the radionic treatments.**}}

{{**I'll see.**}} She wouldn't look directly at him.

{{**Please,**}} he implored her, {{**no more jealousy! I don't know how to handle that!**}}

{{**But I still ****feel**** the way that I do.**}} The female sighed. {{**But….I am with you on this. I find I cannot truly wish her harm. Intellectually, that is.**}}

Raven watched the interchange with interest and insight. Although she couldn't "hear" what they were saying in Link, their body language spoke volumes. "Look. Maybe we need to clear the air here."

_That is what we are trying to do._

"I don't mean that way. Look at me, please, both of you: I know the two of you are….sexually intimate. I mean, to other Osirans, it's not obvious, but to someone who's had some experience with the emotional spectrum—like me—it is. And yes, I know, such things are, what, forbidden? I'm not sure. But it's not standard operating procedure, I know." The two warriors were silent, their wrist readers inactive, their faces carefully neutral.

Raven addressed the female. "Have I caused any problems between you and your partner? I mean, am I a, a source of, I don't know, distress to you? Have I done something or said something or in some other way caused problems between you two? Please tell me if I have."

The female was "quiet" for a long, long moment. Then she raised her wrist reader, even as she lowered her eyes. _What I am feeling is neither logical nor rational. I am sure it will pass._ Another long pause. Then, _I suppose it's just that I noticed you….noticing my mate. You actually did nothing wrong. The problem is with me._

Raven sighed, looking down at her folded hands. Truth time. "Well, you weren't….totally wrong there. I told you I came here to keep from causing problems back on my old world between Garfield and Terra. Then I come here, and guess what happens. My first two friends….I cause problems between them. I, I'm sorry. I'm told it's a psychological quirk." She turned to the female, whose expression wasn't quite so severe as before. "I never…_looked_ at him deliberately, and would never, ever do anything to, to hurt either of you, or your relationship. I'm truly sorry if my, my unconscious behavior caused problems."

_Wait. What?_ The male was aghast.

"I'm afraid so." Raven hoped the blush she was experiencing wasn't permanent….

{{**I was right, I was right, I was right,**}} the female crowed at the male through Link, {{**You sexy thing, you.**}} Her thoughts were alive with amusement, though.{{**Probably undressing you in her mind, licking you all over, steadily moving down towards your-***}}

{{**Do you ****have**** to be so specific?**}}

"Aloud," the female's wrist reader said, _Well, I suppose I can say little. I, too, behaved in an irrational manner, fueled by my emotions. Perhaps….perhaps we should just begin anew, forgiving each other for being less than perfect, for being the emotional beings we are. What say you both?_

_That sounds like a good idea to me. A fresh start. Raven?_

"I'm definitely in." And the three placed their hands on the low table, first the male's, then the female's, then Raven's.

_Alright, then. Now, as to the treatments….._

…_._

_To be continued…._

_Please read and review!_


	8. Chapter 8: Into the Light

Tales of the Teen Titans: Exile, chapter 8: Into the Light

_I don't own the Teen Titans._

_Please read and review!_

The hypospray hissed against Raven's bare arm, tingling as the nanobots were injected into her bloodstream. _This is all we can give you today,_ said the female's wrist reader, _but in conjunction with the radionic treatments, it ought to eliminate most of the virus within you. We'll give you some more later, as well as more treatments, but it'll take time._

"Thank you, again, for helping me. And, again, I'm truly sorry for causing you such, such distress." She sighed. "Maybe the Thinkers could just get rid of such urges in me, altogether. Maybe that's the way I should go."

The female sat back and looked at her. _Do you __want__ that?_

"No, not really. I mean, you've seen that sex is enjoyable. I don't want to get rid of something in my life that can give me pleasure. But if it's going to mean I go around causing problems for everyone I meet….maybe I'm better off without it."

_Somehow I can't really believe that. How do other humans handle such emotions?_

Raven sighed. "Some simply find someone, and, and mate with them. Some self-pleasure themselves. Some deny themselves altogether, just refuse to have sex. At all. Some declare their desires to the one they're attracted to, and just let things happen. I didn't want to do that; Terra is my friend, as is Garfield. I didn't want to do anything to cause them emotional pain, or cause conflict." She paused, looking down. "So I came here. And caused _you_ emotional pain. Again, I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to."

_Was this Garfield the only male to whom you were attracted, back in that other world?_

"Not…..completely. There was another man, one I was seeing. But, but I don't really understand why, but I couldn't, just couldn't…..get as interested in him as I was in Garfield. I think, maybe, it might've had something to do with Garfield not being available, you know? Just like your partner's not available…except that's not the whole story, either. Oh, I don't really understand it, myself."

The female was "silent" for a moment. Then, _My mate is attractive in appearance, I'll admit. And, yes, it isn't all just about how he looks. It was his inner qualities that first attracted my interest, long before we…became what we are. After all, there are many warriors who simply look good, but none like him. None as __caring.__ So it does not really surprise me that you were attracted to him. I guess I can understand that, to some degree. And I believe you that these urges of yours are not completely under your control. I've…experienced desire myself. It isn't subject to rational thought processes. _She looked down at her hands. _When I first told my mate of your condition, I….spoke very harshly to him, regarding you. I said things that I knew were not true, but I said them anyway, all the while filled with a righteous fury. I accused him of things…..I knew he did not do. When I realized what I was feeling, it was…..frightening how easily I lost control. I was ashamed. I am ashamed._

"I would understand," began Raven, "if you had wanted to kill me."

The female made no reply.

Raven went on, standing up, wrapping her arms around herself, her voice soft. "I know what you mean. Emotions…can be so terribly and easily distracting. I, I don't really know how to deal with them, myself, totally. I thought I did, once. Meditation….that used to help me, back in that other world, especially to control my powers, but…it doesn't seem to work here, not with this. So I'm…..not really sure what to do."

The female stood up, and, putting a hand on Raven's shoulder, directed her attention to her wrist reader. _Well, one disaster at a time. My partner has cleared out a room where we can give you the radionic treatments. Shall we go?_

The Thinker lab was empty; Raven wondered how they'd accomplished that. But she guessed it didn't matter. She lay on the hospital-type gurney as the massive toroid—rather reminiscent of an Earthly PET scan machine—was brought into play. She waited patiently while the machine moved around her in total silence. The male (who hadn't seemed to want to be alone with her lately; Raven had to suppress a grin at that. He could lift a bulldozer with one hand. Was he afraid she'd rape him or something?) had told her the process wouldn't take long. Still, it seemed to take an hour, even though it probably only took half that.

Finally, the treatment was over for this time. _There,_ his wrist reader said, _that will be all for now. A few more such treatments, and you should be, as you say, "good to go."_

"Thank you." She paused in the act of putting her cloak back on. She'd never adopted this world's custom of wearing a one-piece jumpsuit. He was examining some of the readings on the machine. "I really appreciate you and your mate helping me in this. It never occurred to me that something like this might happen. Otherwise, I'd never have come here."

_I believe you, Raven._

She looked him square in the face. "And I'm sorry if I make you personally uneasy. I mean, I don't really know how it is for you, but I know how I'd feel if some man admitted to me that he had been watching me, 'admiring' me, my body…in that way. A part of me might be flattered, but another, much larger part would be…. uncomfortable. I'm sorry."

_It is…alright, Raven. It's just…these emotions are new to us both. We don't really know how to handle them. Previously, the Lords told us what to feel, what to think. And we did. Osiran society is based on that. And then….then my mate found some old buuks, hardcopy information storage devices, that detailed sexual practices. But they dealt mostly with the mechanics of the act, not the emotions the act could bring about. So we're both still learning._

"Take it from one who knows: it's a journey, not a destination. But I hope you and your mate make that journey together. Uh, you can keep this concealed from the Lords, can't you? I mean…."

_I certainly hope so. For them to discover our relationship would be a death sentence for us both._

"They'd _kill_ you for being sexually active?"

_No, they'd kill us for being subversive. My mate has already stated that her allegiance is to me, not her Lord. And mine is to her, over my Lord. The Lords would not, could not tolerate that._

"Oh, I see. Well," she said, "Is there anything more you need me for today? I must confess, I'm enjoying working with you on the singularity research."

_Actually, that is pretty much all for today. I'm working on…another project, but it's one only I can do. Still, I know you need something to do, so here._ And he handed her an infocube._ This details many of the fundamentals of singularity research, including many things I have been unable to go over with you in the lab. Take this back to your apartment and study it. Then, tomorrow, after your treatments, we'll go over some of it, see what you've learned. Okay?_

"Okay."

Back at the apartment complex, Raven found the young boy who'd checked her in one time seated at the front desk. One look at his face and Raven winced: it was the face of someone who'd cried too many tears, too soon. And it was her fault.

She approached the desk. "I heard about your family members. I just wanted to tell you how sorry I am."

"That's—that's alright, _mere,_" he said. "It—it wasn't your fault. I mean…I guess there are no guarantees in life, are there? Like the saying goes, none of us are promised tomorrow."

"Uhm, I guess not." It _was_ her fault.

He went on. "I used to fight with my _framere _all the time. She'd call me stupid and other names." He paused, his face scrunching up into an expression of grief. "I'd give anything to hear her call me stupid just one more time."

Raven didn't know what to say to that. She'd never been very good at comforting others.

"But it'll be alright. I—I just have to get used to their being gone, is all."

"Well, if I may say so…I'm impressed with how you're handling this. I've known some people, many of them older than you, who wouldn't be taking it as well as you are."

"Thank you." He hesitated. "I went before a Lord today. For the first time. It was kinda scary. But he talked to me—you understand, the Lords don't use words, right?—but I mean, he communicated with me. Told me that this pain I'm feeling is normal." He shrugged, and laughed slightly, even as he brushed away a tear. "He told me I'd be abnormal if I _wasn't_ hurting. And he's right, of course."

Raven was a little surprised. She'd always, somehow, pictured the Lords as being mental and emotional tyrants. That one would actually go out of his way to comfort a hurting young boy was….new information.

"He helped me….get past some of the pain. He told me he _could_ just make it go away, so that I wouldn't feel it. At all. I asked him to. But he wouldn't. Said it would be better if I got past it without being, y'know, made to. I'll be better for it." Another tear got wiped away. "Sure doesn't feel that way right now, but he said that's just the way it goes." Then, "But it looks like it's just me, now. Can I get you anything? Or do anything for you?"

_So young,_ she thought, reassessing his age, _he can't be more than thirteen. Maybe twelve. Where was I at that age? What was I doing? _ Aloud, "No, I'll just go on to my room. But, uhm…if I can do anything for you, I mean, don't hesitate to ask." This last surprised her; Raven had never been one to offer comfort to another. She didn't know _how._

"Thanks, _mere._ Just knowing you, well, want to help is helpful, all by itself. Well, have a good evening."

Back in her room, Raven took off and hung up her cloak, and plugged in the infocube the male had given her into her computer. It was a series of documents and computer simulations regarding the creation, control, and properties of singularities, written, of course, in the high-density Osiran language. She was halfway waiting for the Entity to contact her, partly so she could give it the silent treatment (for a godlike being, it had sure allowed a lot of misery to take place. Why couldn't it have warned her?) and partly so she could crow about it being wrong. Yes, there had been danger, but she, and her newfound friends, had handled it just fine, thank you very much. There was no need for her to return to her old world, no need for its dubious "help." She didn't need it as much as it thought she did.

But the Entity was silent.

Well. She had things to do. She had _work_ to do, important work, and no time to waste discoursing with some cosmic know-it-all who, it turned out, didn't know it all.

….

Our universe: the Hunter fleet had carefully scanned three of the star systems in its wake. Their quarry was in none of them, nor was there any indication it had ever been here. Seer of the Way stopped by Talks to God's quarters; Talks to God had been keeping to himself lately, and Seer wondered why.

"Call it a feeling," Talks to God admitted, when Seer asked him, "but there's something peculiar about those desolate systems we encountered. Didn't you notice anything odd about them?" There were infocubes and disks littered on the table before his terminal.

"Other than that they were lifeless? That means nothing. Many star systems simply don't produce life."

"But these were perfect for the formation of life. Some life. Maybe not intelligent life, but _something._ Yet there wasn't so much as a microbe or spore anywhere to be found. I'm looking for the common denominator. So far, I haven't found one."

Seer lowered himself into a resting position. "Well, as you would ask me, what does this mean to you?"

Talks was silent for a minute. Then, "That I am overlooking something. Maybe something obvious. If, say, there had been life in any of those systems, and then….something happened? But what could happen that would affect not one but _several_ quite widely separated star systems?"

"Perhaps a hypernova? Or maybe a gamma ray burst? Maybe even a war."

"We'd have seen signs of a war. Likewise a hypernova. A gamma ray burst? Possible. But that would sterilize this entire arm of the galaxy, unless it was a small one….and I've never heard of a small one….or carefully directed. But that leads us back to war, which we've seen no indication of. Plus, there's no sign of radioactivity…and there would be, with a gamma ray burst."

"Unless it happened a very very long time ago."

"Which would give life a chance to re-emerge all over again. Besides." And here, Talks did something he seldom did: he chewed on a claw.

Seer examined his friend. "Your instincts are telling you something. What?"

"Not a gamma ray burst, not a hypernova, not a war. Yet one whole sector of this galactic arm is, not just lifeless, but actually _sterile._" Again he chewed on a claw. "Something about the desolate sector has crept into my soul, Seer. It gnaws at me. It goes beyond just there being no life there; it is something more. I cannot shake the impression that something happened back there, something terrible…or perhaps something wonderful." He looked at Seer. "We are headed back towards that star system, the one _Garfield_ came from, aren't we? The one with the planet called _Urth?_"

"Eventually. We still have several star systems to examine, but, yes, we will be heading back that way before long. Why?"

Talks to God sighed. "I know we cannot, but I find myself wishing we could go straight there. Just to reassure myself that there is still life there."

_To be continued…_

_Please read and review!_


	9. Chapter 9: Human Voices

Tales of the Teen Titans: Exile, chapter 9: Human Voices

"…'_till_ _human voices wake us, and we drown_…"

T. S. Eliot:_ "_The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"

Raven's new home: days passed. The treatments were successful in completely eliminating the virus from her body, and the female finally pronounced her virus-free. They'd been able to keep her condition and her treatments a secret from the Thinkers—evidently, the female had some kind of influence with one of the head Thinkers.

She practically skipped back to her apartment. She'd gotten on good terms with the boy who now ran the complex, _frère_ Jasson, and his pet mouse, "_Mere_ Sisson," "Sissy" for short. When she had the time, she occasionally baby-sat (well, mouse-sat) when he got busy with the day-to-day activities of running the complex. She even helped him with the laundry, marveling at the automated machines that pretty much did all the work. Back in her old world, one had washers and dryers; here, there was one machine. One threw one's clothes onto the conveyor belt, punched in the necessary code telling the machine what you wanted done, and one machine did it all: washing, drying, dry cleaning, pressing, even hanging one's clothes up and/or folding them, as desired. It even sorted, matched, and balled men's socks up. Machines like this would positively spoil a girl.

The Entity, meanwhile, was silent. A couple of times, she'd been tempted to "call" to it. She wasn't sure if she wanted to brag about handling the disaster on her own or to tell it off for not warning her about the virus she was carrying (but it _had_ offered to scan her….maybe it could have told her, had she allowed it to? But no, she didn't really believe that….), or perhaps just to, to hear from it. The Entity had been right about one thing: it _was_ the only thing she had left from her old life. A life that, she had to admit, she missed more than she had realized.

But things were looking good here. She had new friends, she was healthy, she had a useful job to do. The male warrior frequently left her in the lab by herself. He had some project he was working on, that not even the female knew the particulars of. In a human couple, that might have been suspicious, but, aside from her spurt of jealousy regarding Raven earlier, the female trusted him completely.

_I confess,_ she'd told Raven, on a couple of occasions, _that I am curious as to the nature of his project. He says it's something to do with sociological forecasts, but I can get no more than that out of him._

"It's probably something so boring even he hates to deal with it," Raven told her. Then, jokingly, "Either that, or he's taking a nap in some back room somewhere." She laughed to show it was a joke.

The female laughed silently with her. Strange, how Osirans could laugh, but without making a sound. Maybe it was a survival trait. _We do not sleep,_ she replied, _but I understand what you mean._ But then she sobered, looking off. Then, to Raven, _Do…do you suppose it could have something to do with the Lords?_

"I don't know. He certainly hasn't told me. Why, if it is, would that concern you so? The subject seems to upset you."

_It is….probably nothing. Perhaps I am worrying overly. Should the Lords find out about us…._

"Well, _I_ certainly know how to keep a secret. Does anyone else know?"

_No._ But she still seemed worried.

In the evenings after work, she found herself spending time with Jasson, not necessarily doing any actual work in particular, but just what she'd always heard the others, back in her old world, refer to as "hanging out" with him. He was a bright child, one who'd had to grow up fast. Raven could relate to that. School, apparently, on this world, was conducted exclusively online. One "attended class," studied, and took tests, all from one's home. There were no actual classrooms on this world. So his time away from his lessons and from his work was his to do with as he saw fit. And since he hated to get too far away from what was now the place of his occupation, his responsibility, as he saw it, he often had quite a lot of free time there. She occasionally even played catch with him, and, once or twice, tried her hand at baseball batting practice (baseball itself being much the same here as on her on old world), just the two of them, just long enough for her to realize she absolutely _sucked_ at baseball.

"Well," she laughed, after her last strikeout (somewhere in the forties; she'd lost count), "I guess it's just not something I'll ever be very good at."

"That's okay, _mere,_" he'd laughed in return, "It's not about points, anyway, just about having fun."

_Strange,_ she thought, _I __am__ having fun._ It was, frankly, a new experience for her. Raven was accustomed to being by herself, but _fun_ had never really entered into that equation. "You know, you don't have to keep calling me _mere._ My name's Raven."

He grinned. "Thanks, _m_—I mean, Raven." Impulsively, he hugged her, and she found her arms going around him, mussing up his shock of red hair even more. "And thanks for being my _second_ big sister." Then a beep sounded from his wrist computer; there was somebody in the office. "Whoops, duty calls. Gotta go." And off he went.

"Second big sister"? _Her?_ Boy, was _that_ ever a change!

She went back to her apartment that night, hot, sweaty (sweaty! Actually sweaty!), and tired, but _happy_ somehow. Raven could count, on the fingers of one hand, the number of times in her life she'd actually been _happy._

She was in such a good mood that she thought at the Entity while showering off, something she wouldn't have done a few weeks ago. She just couldn't see it as some sort of cosmic voyeur, anyway. _Are you there?_

_Yes, Raven, I am here. I told you I would never leave you, nor forsake you. I don't make such promises lightly. But events are transpiring rapidly, both here and back at your old home world._

_Well, just to let you know: the danger is past. We dealt with it. It's over._

_No, Raven. You did not. And it's not over. You and your friends dealt with __a__ danger, not __the__ danger. Not the one I foresaw. The timelines of this universe still lead towards danger for you. Remember what I told you: just get back to the place where you entered this world, and I'll open the portal for you. It's important._

_But what other danger could there be? _Raven was beginning to get a little uneasy. _I really wish you wouldn't be so mysterious._

_I really wish I didn't have to be._

She got out of the shower, toweling off, and changed the subject. She really just couldn't think of the Entity as human enough to enjoy the view. _What about this artifact you wanted me to steal, back there? What was it, exactly?_

_You really don't want to know._

_Let me decide that. Don't be so high and mighty._

_But I am, Raven. Oh, very well. I suppose there's no harm in telling __you__ about it; you aren't likely to be able to recreate it. No offense intended; I just remember what you did to that poor, innocent alarm clock three weeks ago. It was a device designed to increase the entropic level of a localized area, while at the same time enhancing organic beings' endurance to temperature increase, and oxidation, but without rendering them fireproof. In simple words, they'd burn, but not die._

What the? _That sounds like, almost like something designed to create….._

_Hell on Earth? Exactly. That, really, was its stated purpose, quite literally._

_What twisted mind came up with such a thing? And why?_

_Raven, what you don't understand is that beings like Trigon and Nekron don't have a monopoly on cosmic-level evil. Some ordinary, mortal humans have a positive flair for it. You, your world, will never know the horror you escaped all because I allowed Adolf Hitler to rise to power. His Panzer tanks crushed to a bloody pulp one of the most evil beings it has ever been my extreme displeasure to make the acquaintance of. I'd call her a "woman," but that's an insult to your half of the human race. She was human only physically, and, fortunately, mortal. If a madman hadn't invaded France in 1940, half your world would even now be screaming in anguish. Perhaps someday I'll show you a timeline where that happened, and you can decide for yourself. It's not a pretty sight._

_You allowed Adolf Hitler to come to power?_

_I certainly did. I know you've no reason to believe me, but he was decidedly the far lesser of two evils._

_But millions died!_

_Yes._

_And you did nothing?_

_That's right. Oh, working through some agents of mine, I was able to help get a few people to safety. A precious few. And I did intervene, on a small level, through other agents, and indirectly, both in Europe and in China, albeit not for the reasons you might suppose. But for reasons I can't go into right now, I can't just swoop in and save the day like, well, like you can. Or could, back when you had your powers. Well, actually, I sort of can, but the process is a lot more convoluted than it sounds._

Raven thought about that, while she was getting dressed. Oddly enough, she actually believed the Entity, in a way. _Well, in my own limited, human way, I still wish you'd have done something to save Jasson's family. There seems little point in being so powerful, as you claim to be, if you can't help people, as you claim to want to._

_It's more complicated, for me, than just healing somebody. I can, after a fashion. But I'm hampered by my sheer power, Raven, and by my nature. I can do big things—I call it macro-engineering—but when it comes to small things, there are often consequences. There's a kind of, of, I suppose you'd call it "universal ripple effect" that occasionally happens when I try that. It helps if I'm physically there, and can control such directly, but my being in your universe, physically, can often lead to….well, let's just say problems. That's why I need to work through mortals such as you on matters not requiring my direct intervention. It's safer for everybody. Besides, not meaning to sound cold-blooded-I actually have no blood, anyway—but had they not died, you'd probably not have become such good friends with Jasson, now, would you?_

Raven brushed back her hair. One advantage of short hair was it dried rapidly. A part of her was shocked that the Entity could actually see some good coming out of her "little brother's" pain, but another, more logical part…..understood. _Well, I still wish he hadn't lost his mother and sister._

_Death is a reality for all mortal beings, Raven. Sooner or later, he'd have suffered such loss, perhaps not both together, but lose them he would. But this way, he had __you__ to comfort him, to be his "other" big sister. That's rare, Raven. And precious, whether you know it or not._

_Much good I did._

_But you did, Raven. Raven, listen to me: _You were there._ Sometimes, that's all that's needed._

…_.._

_To be continued…._

_Please read and review!_


	10. Chapter 10: No Place Like Home

Tales of the Teen Titans: Exile, chapter 10: No Place Like Home

Back at the arcology, the male and female warriors were sharing a moment of downtime, resting momentarily. {{**What of your sociological forecasts? Have you any new data?**}}

{{**Some**_._}}

{{**And your findings?**}}

{{**Uncertain**_._}}

She decided to quit, as Raven had said once, "beating around the bush." She didn't understand why someone would beat around a bush in the first place, as it seemed an ineffectual way to gather information, but the phrase had a nice sound to it. {{**Does this have to do with your plan to get rid of the Lords?**}}

He sighed. {{**I can keep nothing from you, I see. Yes, it does. But so far I have gotten nowhere. The Lords are immensely powerful, both physically and mentally. And there are many of them. I keep running into that whenever I run any equations. ****I**** certainly don't have the physical power to overcome them.**}}

{{**Not even using **_**ki**_**?**}}

{{**You know we don't use **_**ki**_**, except as a last resort, and you know why.**}}His face took on a haunted expression. {{**But it may come to that.**}}

{{**Then maybe it isn't about sheer power. You remember what Raven said her friend Robin, back in that other world, told her once: you don't have to have super powers to save the world. Just the determination to do whatever it takes.**}}

He nodded. {{**Perhaps she—and you—are right.**}} There was an odd undercurrent to his thoughts that she didn't catch. Then.

{{**Well, I see that this has you worried. Deeply worried.**}}

He couldn't deny that. {{**Yes. Yes, it does. I cannot help but think of the misery that will ensue, once matters become critical.**}}

She made a decision. Getting up, she tugged on his arm. {{**Then come with me.**}}

{{**Why? What is it?**}}

{{**Just come with me.**}} And she led him into a back room, one shielded from warriors' senses.

{{**But what is it? I really wish you'd tell me—oh!**}} She'd removed her uniform.

{{**I cannot solve your problems for you. But perhaps I can take your mind off of them, at least for a little while. Perhaps is so doing, the solution may come easier to you.**}}

He found himself unable to argue with her logic.

….

Our universe: the great crystal sphere inserted itself into orbit around the Earth, its occupant noting the Osiran probe in orbit. He would have sighed, had he been human enough. Such wasteful destruction. But then, Osirans were justifiably famous for that. For that matter, so were humans.

With casual ease, he reset the timer for the probe to a date far in the future. If he was successful here, the Earthians and whatever Osiran allies they had could deal with it at their leisure. On the other hand, if he was unsuccessful, the probe's resetting the universe to a higher quantum level might easily be the least of everyone's concerns.

…..

Raven was preparing for bed when someone signaled at her door. "Who is it?" she called, through the closed door.

There was no reply. Odd, she thought. If it was Jasson, he'd usually say something. She went to the door and activated the hallway monitor, to see who was calling at this hour.

The monitor showed the male warrior who looked like Omega standing just outside her door, looking up and down the hallway, somewhat nervously, she thought. He had something like a large television remote clipped to his belt, and was carrying something that looked like cloth. What could be going on?

She opened the door, surprised to see him here at this hour. "Yes? What is it?" He had some sort of cloth sack over his left arm. He raised his right arm, pointing it towards her. _Raven,_ read his reader, _This is vital. Please trust me on this. Do not make a sound. Understand? No sound._

"Uhm, o-okay," she replied uncertainly. This was unlike him. Whatever was happening? "But what-*"

_No time. Here. _And he unclipped the device from his belt and, with one motion, clipped it onto her belt. _Remember, don't make a sound._ And without another word, he flipped the sack he was carrying over her head, bringing it down around her feet, and, picking her up, carried her off into the night.

To say she was surprised would be a vast understatement. What _was_ all this? But she implicitly trusted him, a fact which surprised her. Raven had never been one to completely trust others.

The journey didn't take long, and she shortly felt him set her on her feet. Off came the bag, her hair frizzing with static electricity from it sliding up and off her. Unsurprisingly, she found herself back in the singularity research lab, with the female even then closing the lab door, and sealing it shut. They both looked decidedly uneasy.

{{**Do you think you were observed?**}}

{{**No. Are the shields in place and active?**}}

"Look," she asked them. Their heads turned to her. "Do you suppose you could tell me what's going on? Please keep in mind, when you Link, _I can't hear you._"

The male raised his reader. _Of course, Raven, and I'm sorry for the abruptness of my actions. But there was no time. The Lords are looking for you._

"What? Why?"

_They've determined that the virus was of otherworldly origin. They've since cross-examined everybody who came in on any of the returning human ships during that time period. They know it was none of them. That leaves you. They have your description, but not your name or whereabouts._ He paused. _We can't let them find you._

"So you brought me _here?_ To the very center of their power? Was that wise?"

_They cannot directly sense you here. The research we do here requires massive amounts of shielding. That will obscure their senses, as well as the senses of the warriors out looking for you._

She pointed to the sack he'd thrown onto a nearby console. "I hope you didn't think that would hide me from warrior—or Lord—senses."

_No, but this did._ He smoothly unclipped the device from her belt. _Portable shield generator. We use them for transporting the singularity-producing elements from our manufacturing site, some kilometers to the southwest._ He did something to it, and placed it on a nearby table. _When activated, as it was, it has the side effect of obscuring our senses. To any Osiran observers, you were an indistinct blob, and they hopefully assumed I was simply transporting more of the elements. The bag was just to hide you from any human observers who might be out._

"Oh. Okay. But what's the danger? So they find me, what then?"

The two warriors looked at each other momentarily. Then the female raised her reader. _They would determine that you came here from another timeline. And that you came secretly. That would look suspicious to them. They would envision the worst. They would then scan you. Deeply._

"And?"

_Such as scan would reveal every thought, every memory in your mind. And leave nothing of your mind left. The only good thing about it would be, you wouldn't feel the fires of the incinerator they'd shove your still-breathing body into._

Gulp. But then, a burst of guilt: she _had_ caused the deaths of several people, including Jasson's family. "Maybe…maybe they should. Maybe I should turn myself i-*" And right between the vowel and the consonant of the word, in between the tickings of the clock, an image avalanched through her mind, as real as the image of the lab where she now was…

_An earthquake a hundred, a thousand miles wide, God's own invisible meat cleaver slicing into this world from space, splitting the entire globe in half like an orange; volcanic action visible from Mars. Then, the nickel-iron core of the planet speeding up to thousands upon thousands of rpms, to the point where it became the biggest bomb in the solar system, blowing the Earth not just into fragments, but into powder, the moon knocked from its orbit into a trajectory that would send it off into the emptiness of space…._

…_..the sun itself destabilizing, exploding into a supernova of awesome fire, vaporizing the inner planets, and scorching the outer gas giants, their atmospheres boiling off into space…._

…_..And herself, somehow untouched by the chaos and ruin around her, mouth open in a silent scream, falling, falling into the abyss thus created by the cataclysm, falling until she was engulfed in a blacker-than-black aperture….._

…_.and the eyes, behind the starry void of space: "The portal. Now."_

"*-n," She was shaken, more deeply than she had been in years. The image that had cascaded through her mind had left her with absolutely no doubt whatsoever that not only _could_ the Entity do something of this magnitude, but that it most definitely _would._

Ever since the Entity had first contacted her, back in that other world, Raven had toyed with the notion, the possibility that there was no Entity, that it was all her, that she was simply insane, somehow, and all this was her own subconscious in action, just a part of her own schizophrenic mind. After all, what, really, had it done? Had it really done anything that her own powers, whatever their state, couldn't have done? Could she have been, essentially, talking to herself, this whole time? Could all her experiences be explained some other, more mundane way?

But now there was no doubt. Not even in her wildest fantasies did she ever possess that kind of power. And certainly not here.

And then in the next nanosecond, another image flashed through her mind: the road, where she'd first come into this world, and the open portal, just as it had been on her world, hanging calmly in empty space, waiting for her. Again, there was no doubt.

The male's wrist reader was "speaking." _We don't want that to happen to you, Raven. Besides, we aren't being totally selfless here. If the Lords scan you, they'll find out about __us._

Oh. Right. "Well, what can I do? I can't stay here."

{{**She's right,**}} Linked the female. {{**When the Lords cannot find her, they'll naturally look in those areas not so easily accessible to their senses. They'll probably look here first, simply because it's closer.**}}

"Look," began Raven. This was about more than just her. "There's a chance—if I could get back to the place where I entered this world—that the portal I used to get here might still be open, to some degree. Sometimes they take a while to fully close." Like about one-thirtieth of a second, but she saw no reason to elaborate on that. "Why don't the both of you come with me, if it is?"

The male thought furiously. Then, raising his reader, _Let's use the readers, to let Raven know what is being said._ He turned to the female. _This world is becoming decidedly dangerous for us all. Can you get her back to this place she's referring to?_

_Of course, but what of you?_

_I will create a diversion. No one will follow you. Go ahead, take her there; I'll be along as soon as I can._ He handed her the portable shield and the cloth bag.

"Uhm, if it's all the same to you, could we do this without the bag?"

Flying back to her point of entry, Raven asked the female, "What sort of diversion will he create?"

_I do not know,_ "said" her reader. Raven was holding it; apparently, it didn't have to be physically on the female's wrist to translate her nonvocalized thoughts into holographic words, _we were not using Link, so I was unable to pick up any hint of what he actually planned. Were it me, I would probably cause the shielding to fluctuate, producing what would appear to be an emergency situation. Other warriors would be summoned to deal with the threat, and the Lords themselves evacuated to safety._

"Where would the Lords go?" Raven shivered; they hadn't stopped by her apartment to get her clothes, and the night air was chill.

_They undoubtedly have some place of safety they have prepared in advance. But I do not know just where. Is this place where you entered our world close?_

"It should be right around that turn up ahead. I know it was close by a farm field….."

Back at the arcology, the male gathered up another portable shield generator, and a few other items. Then he checked the Link for the Lords' schedule. They were still convening, the matter of the strange virus having alerted them to the possibility of invasion, something no Lord took lightly.

He made one brief stop on his way down to the Lords' meeting chamber.

"I don't know," Raven was saying to the female, "it should be right around here." And sure enough, there it was, the portal hanging open, a two-dimensional disk visible from only one side, vertical to the road, just as she remembered it from when she first came. "There. That's it." Something was nagging at the back of her mind, something having to do with the warrior she had known in her world, her counterpart to this world's warrior. Something to do with the Lords….. "I suppose we'll wait for him? I know the portal will take us back to my world. I have to admit," she said, a bit bashfully, to the female, "that I'm glad you two will be coming with me. I've….grown fond of you both. I know I have to leave, and I have to leave Jasson behind; after all, this is his world. But your mate is right: it's becoming too dangerous for you two."

The female had put her wrist reader back on. _In a way, I, too, will be glad to be going with you, Raven. We are fond of you, as well. And this world you've described….well, it sounds like, like…._ The word she was groping for was rare in the Osiran language.

"Like fun? Well, yes, it is that. But it's also a world where you're both needed. I can guarantee you at least one thing: neither one of you will be bored."

The female smiled. _That is another word rarely encountered among our kind. But a new world….perhaps that is the very thing we both need. It will be….an interesting experience, to build a new life somewhere free of the Lords' domination. A new world, a new life,_ she added, a faraway look coming over her heart-shaped face, _together._

In the Lords' chamber: the male strode into the circular pit, where he would address the assembled might of the Lords of Osira. All around him, the Lords sat at their seats, their attention focused on him. {{_**Well, you have requested an audience with us. We trust that this is important. After all, we've a possible invasion to deal with.**_}}

He stood facing them, his face calm, his stance relaxed. Carrying his shielded container. {{**It is very important. But before I begin, I have someone I must introduce to you all.**}} There was a flicker in the center of the amphitheatre as someone teleported in. Someone carrying another shielded canister.

In appearance, it was a Lord, wearing the rich black robes and _tiki-_like maskof the Osirus himself. At the sight of the intruder, this world's Osirus rose from his seat, his face impossible to read behind his mask, but alarm in his stance and in his Linked communication: {{_**Who are you?**_}}

{{_**I am your counterpart from another timeline, one where our policies have generated much misery and anguish. I bring you a gift.**_}} The seated figure gestured to the male warrior, standing next to him.

{{_**A gift? What gift do you bring us?**_}}

{{_**I bring you,**_}} the robed figure began, even as he brought the contents of the warrior's canister into contact with the one he was carrying, {{_**the gift of oblivion.**_}}

"…_singularities….produced by the combining of two elements, neither one native to the eleven dimensioned space you and I call reality…."_

The singularity formed faster than the assembled Lords could teleport away.

"…_**.you don't have to have super powers to save the world. Just the determination to do whatever it takes…"**_

{{**Goodbye, my lov-***}}

Miles away, Raven looked up in alarm. The female had risen, her face registering shock and dismay, as she looked back towards the city. "What-*" And then, she saw it: the growing, silent radiance, a color impossible to describe, that had no description, shining over and above the lights of the city they'd left behind.

_No no no…._ The wrist reader repeated the words over and over.

"What…what happened?" But even as she asked the question, Raven knew. Too late she remembered her version of the warrior, and his suicidal crusade to end the Lords' reign.

The female stood alone, head bowed, a silent figure of misery, her chin-length hair obscuring her features from Raven's eyes. After a long, long moment, her wrist reader came back to life. _I should have known. _

"You…you couldn't have known. There was no way," began Raven, even as she moved to comfort the alien woman. But the Osiran raised her hand without changing her stance, pointed her wrist reader at Raven. _Go._

"Come with me. There's….there's no longer any reason for you to remain here."

_No. I cannot. I must return to the city. There are other, lesser Lords, elsewhere on this world, but the destruction of these here will cause mass confusion, possibly even war. The other warriors and Thinkers—and the humans—will need….guidance. They will need help. The remaining Lords will have to be dealt with, plus the conditioning they've imposed on the humans…some way must be found to break it. I cannot leave them to face that alone. It—it wouldn't be….right._ The female raised her head, a pained smile on her face, as though remembering something. _Go. Your friends, your world, await you._ She pointed to the portal, waiting silently, patiently for Raven to step through.

Raven moved towards it. "Will—will you look after Jasson for me?"

_As I would my own. _Thus reassured, Raven stepped through the blackly glowing portal.

Behind her, the female turned to face the city, the rising sun, and the future.

…

Raven found herself back in her room at Titans' Tower. She turned; the portal was gone.

She started to call to the Entity, to tell it off good and proper. No matter how powerful it was, she had still lost a good friend this day, probably due to its rushing matters, and she was _angry._

There was a knock at the door. "This'll have to wait," she muttered, partly to herself and partly to the Entity. No doubt her friends were curious as to who was intruding into her old room; it had been several weeks since she left.

It was Beast Boy. "Rae? We're about to start the movie. You sure you don't want to join us?"

Movie? What movie? "Uhm, movie?" What was he talking about?

"Yeah, you know. _Pretty Pretty Pegasus._ Terra and I both just went off-shift; Rob and Star are on. And you know Cyborg; he'll work a double without getting sleepy."

Movie? But that was…weeks ago…."Garfield? What, er, what day is it?"

"Day? It's thirty minutes after I asked you last time. Rae, are you alright?"

"Uhm, yeah. I guess I just lost track of time."

_You certainly did._ She could sense the Entity grinning like Alice's Cheshire cat. "Shuttup," she muttered over her shoulder.

"Huh?"

"Not you. Uhm, never mind" Her mind raced. Only thirty minutes?

"Raven?" He looked at her suspiciously. "You, uh, you aren't reading any more 'really good books' in there, are you?"

_Tell him yes. Watch him freak out._ She had to grind her teeth together just to keep a verbal retort from slipping out. But she managed to shake her head.

"Well, anyway. I just thought I'd see if you'd changed your mind. Have you?"

She shook her head again, more in control now. "I appreciate it, Gar, but I really should—*"

_Oh, for the love of Me. _Something gave her a physical _push_ out into the hallway; she fell right into Garfield's arms. Blushing crimson, she righted herself. "Sorry, Gar, I guess I got overbalanced or something-*" She turned back to her door, which had closed behind her, trying to hide her face.

It wouldn't open. Her security code wouldn't work, either. Nor would the override code. _And don't bother trying to phase through the wall, either,_ said the voice in her mind, _the door will open at midnight. Go on; give it a try. Things might be different now._

She turned back to him. No point trying to escape it, she guessed. But she was definitely gonna give the Entity an earful when she had a moment. Assuming it had ears. "Well, I suppose, since I'm out here anyway, maybe, maybe I will join you two, at least for a little bit. If you're sure it's okay. It is, isn't it? Alright. And thank you."

"Awesome!"

Back in their room, Terra was already in bed, in her sleep shirt. "Hey, Raven. Glad you could make it." There was genuine warmth in her voice.

Garfield had slipped into the bathroom to put on his sleep pants. "You're sure I'm not intruding?" Raven asked Terra, trying to hide her nervousness. She was still taking it all in. Evidently, while several weeks had elapsed for her, only a few minutes had gone by here. Intellectually, she knew how the process worked: time passed at different rates in some universes than in others. But she'd never actually encountered it before.

"'Course not. It was kinda both our idea. We're glad you could join us. Here." Terra got up and brought her a blanket, shoving the armchair around so she'd have a good view of the big-screen TV on the far wall. "Besides. If we eat all _these_ chips and dip ourselves, we'll _both_ be sick."

The movie started, and Raven, sitting in the recliner, promptly dropped off to sleep.

Lying next to her fiancé, Terra nudged him, motioning towards the softly-snoring Raven. "Look."

"I see. Isn't she cute?"

"Yeah. Poor thing. Whatever spell she was working on must've taken more out of her than she thought."

"Must have." He got up, and picked up the sleeping sorceress. "I'll take her back to her room." He carefully propped Raven's head against his arm so as not to obstruct her breathing, and started towards the door...

"No, Gar, don't. It's too far down that hallway. She'll wake up."

"She sure can't sleep in this chair; she'll be stiff as a board." They'd taken the couch out of the room long ago.

Terra thought, kneeling on the bed, chewing on her lip. Then, she scooted over towards the far side of the bed. "Here, Gar," she motioned towards the other side of the bed. "Put her there. There's plenty of room."

Garfield looked at his fiancé as if she'd gone crazy. "Oh, I know what I said," Terra said, to his look, hands on her hips. "But something's different about her. I don't know what. But I'm not getting the same vibe from her I did. Come on," she urged, smoothing down the sheet with her hands, "it'll be alright."

"Okay. If you're sure." He gently laid the sleeping girl on their bed, lovingly lowering her head to the pillow, smoothing her hair out from her face. Raven's face was completely relaxed, and she was smiling softly. Garfield looked at his friend with undisguised love. "Look at her. She looks ten years younger like this."

"She does, doesn't she? Well, come on to bed, lover. We need our sleep, too." He got into bed beside her, and wrapping his arms around her, prepared for sleep. _This is actually kinda cozy,_ he thought, even as he stilled his mind, readying for sleep, _My two favorite girls….Sorry, Starfire, I love you, too, but it's true._

About ten thirty, they fell asleep.

Around eleven thirty, a sleeping Raven turned over in bed, and threw her arm over the couple next to her. None of them woke up.

Shortly after midnight, Raven gradually awoke from a most pleasant dream. Where was she? This wasn't her bed. This wasn't her room.

And her arm was around somebody. Two somebodies, in fact. One of whom had a bare green back. "Oh, no…." Had she crawled into _bed_ with them?

She ever so carefully removed her arm from around Garfield and Terra. This was terrible. No, this was beyond terrible…

"Raven?" Terra, on the other side of Garfield, rose up slightly, yawning. "You awake?"

"I…I, I, I," she stammered, her normal composure evaporating like water on a hot griddle. "I, I, I'm sorry, I-*"

Another yawn. "It's okay, Raven. I had Gar put you there. You were out like a light, and sleeping in that chair would've positively beat you up. I know; I've slept in chairs. But it's alright. Let's just don't wake Gar."

"You….had Garfield….put me here? It, it's okay? You're not….?"

"Sure, it's okay. Let's just both get some sleep, 'kay?" And she drifted off back to slumberland.

Lying on her back, Raven examined her own thoughts….and feelings. It really _was_ okay. She wasn't feeling those damnable urges that had so wrecked her peace of mind just a few short weeks before….it was okay that she was with her two friends. In bed, yeah, but not _that_ way. Just a, a sleepover. Kind of. It was okay that Garfield was to marry Terra. Yes, she still found him….desirable. Sort of. Attractive, in a way. In a friend sort of way. And he was her friend, as was Terra, and _she was okay with it all._

_You, _she directed her thoughts at the Entity. _What did you do to me?_

_Me?! What makes you think I did anything?_

_Don't give me that. I'm….calmer now. More in control. You did something to me. What?_

_Actually, Raven, I really didn't do anything to you. It was all you. Think. You went on a journey, visited an exotic land, made new friends-*_

_One of whom is now dead._

_-So? And learned about yourself. You learned about your own feelings, and you learned to express those feelings with others, and learned, furthermore, that such expression neither killed you nor made you look weak. You learned how to reach out to others, to give comfort to those in pain. You learned how to care about others—and how to allow yourself to be cared about. In short, you grew up. Some. Oh, I might've accelerated the process a little, but really, it was nothing that wouldn't have happened on its own, regardless. You got more in touch with yourself, and discovered that wasn't such a bad thing after all._

_You matured, Raven. There was no magic, no super-cosmic power at work. One of the greatest strengths human beings have is the ability to adapt, to change, to grow. To __love.__ You exercised that power. You grew._

_So….that was all it was?_

_Wasn't that enough?_

Raven was silent in her own mind for a moment. Then, _I'm not sure whether to thank you or cuss you out again._

_You'll probably do both, given time._ _Maybe simultaneously. _And now she sensed the Entity sobering, becoming deadly serious, its resolve unshakeable. _But it was something you needed, Raven. Especially now. Especially with events unfolding the way they are._

_The war's coming, Raven. __My__ war. __I'm__ coming. I'd much, much rather have you stand with me than against me, but, either way, for or against, stand you must._

_Now go back to sleep, sweet Raven, and know that you are loved. Tomorrow really is another day._

The End.

_Please read and review!_


End file.
